Keep Your Head Up
by twilighthungergamesfan
Summary: Edward is a shy, troubled guy who looks after his younger brother, Emmett after their parents were killed in a car crash. They are both hurting and need someone to be there for both of them. Will Emmett's high school English teacher be that someone? All Human, Canon Couples and M due to language and sexual references.
1. League

**Chapter One **

**Edward P.O.V **

"I hate you!" Emmett screamed, slamming his bedroom door shut. The sound vibrated through my ears and made me flinch, from his words and the horrible sound. His cries echoed through the house, making me sigh in guilt. I stood up and walked into my small kitchen that was in a mess, covered in pizza boxes and beer cans.

I wasn't giving my brother the right life, him growing up with his older brother who couldn't cook and ate take-out every night and drank beer was not right. But neither was that our parents died right either. Emmett was only fourteen, ready to start high school when summer was over and he had already been through so much. He had lost both his parents in one night.

It had been a year since their death and we both still weren't right. I missed my mom and dad, though not as much as Emmett. He cried every night and still didn't speak much but in the first couple of months after their death, he had been much worse. He didn't speak and he didn't eat, he was just a dead soul in a kid's body.

Today was the anniversary of our parent's death.

I remembered the night they died clearly. I had just graduated from college with my medical degree, ever since I was younger I had wanted to be a doctor just like my dad was and since they had helped me a lot during college, including buying me an apartment and paying for my education, I offered to look after Emmett so they could go out for dinner for the night.

They left at six that night and I put Emmett to bed at ten, since it was the weekend I let him stay up late. We had watched movies and Emmett had crashed out on the couch after eating too much chips and candy. I took him up to bed and waited for hours for my parents to come home but they never did.

I got the call at four in the morning, it was the police telling me that my parent's had been in a head on collision with a drunk driver. My dad died in the car, though my mom was still on life support. I had dragged Emmett out of his bed in the early hours of the morning, we both went to the hospital to see our mom, though she wasn't awake. She had been in a coma.

Our mom died that morning. The week after I signed legal documents to look after Emmett, I remember wishing that there could have been someone else to look after him, I mean I was only twenty-five, I wasn't financially and emotionally strong enough to care for my younger brother. But there wasn't anyone else to look after him, our grandparents died when I was younger, our dad had one sister but she lived all the way in England. I wasn't going to let Emmett move away.

"Edward?" Emmett asked, entering the kitchen. I jumped a little after being in my world, I hadn't even realized he had come out his room. His eyes were still damp from crying, his cheeks were red from where he had rubbed them and he still had the occasional tear roll down his face. It broke my heart at seeing how upset he was.

"Yes?" I asked back, clearing some of the pizza boxes and beer cans away.

"I'm sorry."

I turned to look at him and smiled slightly. Our argument had been stupid, I had asked him if we could sell our parent's house and move into somewhere smaller and he hadn't been very happy with my question. I explained that although we had inherited money from our parent's jobs, I wanted to keep that for when he went to college, so we needed the money from our parent's house to get something smaller for us both.

"It's fine. I'm sorry too," I apologized.

Emmett walked further into the kitchen and began to help me clean up. I washed the dirty plates and cups, while he dried them and put the away. When we were finished we went into the living room to watch some cartoons. We were watching his favorite show when I noticed he wasn't laughing like usual, he looked upset.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I think you should sell their house," he told me.

"What?"

"It has too many memories, I want to move."

"Kid, are you sure?" I whispered. He nodded and I moved off the couch to hug him, he cried silently into my shoulder and embarrassingly enough, I did too. Emmett was a strong boy, sometimes I even wondered how he looked like was doing better than me. I was a mess and he looked to be doing okay, he kept up his appearances.

"Do you want to go out for dinner?" I asked him once we were okay. He nodded happily and we left my apartment and went to my Volvo car. I drove to the local Italian restaurant that me and my best friend, Jasper always went to during college to get drunk. The waitress there assigned us to a table but we didn't reach it as I noticed Jasper sitting in one of the tables.

"Jasper?" I called, getting his attention. He stood up and man hugged me, asking me how I was. It was funny since Jasper and I had been best friend's since we were eight and we had only just saw each other last week but it still felt like forever. "Dude, what are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I'm here with Alice and her best friend," he explained, drawing my attention to his fiancé who was sitting at the table too, along with probably one of the most stunning girls I had ever saw in my life. Alice's best friend was gorgeous, with long chestnut colored hair and pale skin, she was thin but curvy from what I could tell since she was sitting down and her eyes were very big and dark, but I couldn't tell since she was quite far away.

"Edward, how are you?" Alice asked me as she hugged me.

"I'm good," I answered, while I stared at her friend. I got nervous from just looking at her, she was honestly just so attractive and definitely my type. Alice spoke to me, making basic conversation, while Jasper was speaking to Emmett, making some lame joke about monkeys. Emmett and Jasper had a great relationship, Jasper even thought of him as his own brother.

"Edward, why don't you join us for dinner?" Alice asked me, making me hesitate.

"I don't want to intrude," I insisted, glancing over at Alice's friend.

"You won't be dude, please?" Jasper asked.

I agreed to have dinner with them and the waitress gave us all a bigger table and with my luck, I got sat right across from Alice's friend. She smiled at me and I struggled to smile back as I couldn't tear my eyes away from her. I could now tell what color her eyes were, a very dark brown that reminded me of chocolate. They were beautiful.

"I'm Bella," Alice's friend said, holding out her hand as she introduced herself. I recognized the same instantly, Bella was Alice's best friend from college and her made of honor at her wedding. Alice's friend was _the_ Bella that I had heard so much about from Jasper. It meant that I would be walking up the aisle with her, since I was Jasper's best man. Oh god. Bella's hand dropped as she awkwardly looked away after I didn't introduce myself. Shit!

"I'm sorry," I apologized, holding out my hand, which was kind of sweaty. "I'm Edward. I was just trying to figure out how I recognized your name," I explained. Bella smiled and placed her cold hand in mine, squeezing it very lightly as she shook it. She grinned at me and nodded in understanding, while Emmett, Jasper and Alice just stared at us. I dropped my hand and turned to them.

"So what are we ordering?" I asked, trying to distract them. It worked, Jasper and Emmett ordered pizza, while Bella ordered mushroom ravioli and Alice and I ordered spaghetti. I drank a beer along with Jasper as Bella and Alice drank some wine and Emmett some soda, of course. We talked as we ate, Jasper and Alice explained that our dress fittings were soon for their wedding, which was only four months away.

It was crazy, I could still remember the day Jasper met Alice in college.

"So Emmett, how old are you?" Bella asked him.

"I'm fourteen," he answered.

"You'll be starting high school after summer?" She asked and he nodded.

"Which one are you going to?"

"Cleveland," Emmett said. Bella laughed silently, confusing me. What was amusing her?

"Bella teaches English there," Alice explained.

After that the conversation was basic, I spoke to Jasper about his work. Jasper was a shrink, though he only really worked with married couples in trouble. He spoke to Emmett often for me, since he was in a troubled place and since Emmett knew him, I assumed it was comfortable. He really helped him a lot in the first couple of months after our parents died.

"What do you think of Bella?" Jasper asked me when the girls went to the bathroom.

"She's nice," I shrugged, looking down. Jasper noticed me blush and started to laugh loudly.

"Dude, I noticed things between you two," he accused.

"Well, yeah! You could have told me Alice's made of honor was extremely hot," I sighed.

"And single," Jasper cut in, shocking me. I assumed she would have a boyfriend, surely someone_ that_ hot would have to have a boyfriend. Jasper told me that she didn't live far, she still lived in an apartment with one of Alice's other friends Angela. The only thing I cared about was the fact that she was single but inside I knew nothing would happen, she was just far too out my league.

But damn, I wished she wasn't.


	2. Goodbye

**Chapter Two**

**Edward P.O.V**

"Emmett, Edward!" I heard someone call from behind us. Emmett glanced at me and grinned, before turning around to see our Aunt Beth. He dropped his large suitcase next to me and ran forward, disappearing into the crowd of people to find her. I smiled and picked up his suitcase, walking to find him with our aunt, they were both hugging each other tight and I realized this was the first time they had seen each other since our parent's funeral.

My Aunt Beth looked close to tears as I reached them, placing Emmett's suitcase on the ground. She looked up and pulled me into a hug, whispering in my ear. Emmett and I used to be very close to our aunt before she had moved to England a year before our parents died. I could still remember the times that she and my father would take me out to a local football game.

"How are you doing?" Aunt Beth whispered in my ear, her bright blue eyes showed some concern and her graying hair and wrinkles showed stress and worry. I felt guilty that most of the stress would have been because of me and Emmett, she had wanted to move back here when our parents died but I insisted that she stay in England for her dream job as a photographer.

"We're okay," I told her truthfully, though she looked doubtful.

"Emmett, ready to board the plane?" Aunt Beth asked him. Emmett would be staying in England with her for a week, then a week after he returned, he would be starting high school. I was torn on what to do while he was away, though I knew I would probably end up watching late night television, eating take-out food and drinking beer. Sounded good to me.

"Yes!" Emmett answered, lifting his bags. I said my good-byes to both of them and made Emmett promise to phone me on his cell phone as soon as he landed. Once I had given them both one last hug, they left to board their plane, leaving me alone in the middle of the airport. People pushed past me and I sighed, glancing down at my car keys as I was so unsure of what to do.

I drove home, thinking as I sped in the motorway. I worried about Emmett on the plane, he had hated them ever since he was younger. I remembered that time when he was five and I was seventeen, we had traveled to Italy with our parents and he had panicked the whole journey. My mother had to hold his hand the complete time just to keep him quiet. I smiled as I thought of the memory.

When I arrived at my apartment, the only thing I could think about was sleep. My exhaustion got the better of me, since it really was only nine in the morning and I had been up at half five to take Emmett to the airport. I walked into my bedroom, slipped out of my jeans and took off my t-shirt, leaving me in only my boxers, before I collapsed onto my bed, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow...

* * *

I was awoken to the horrible ring of my phone. My eyes opened slowly and I was unwilling to wake up but I knew I had to, besides I really needed a drink. I glanced at my alarm clock, shocked to see that it was three in the afternoon. My phone rang again and I looked at the caller id before answering once I saw that it was Jasper.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Edward, dude. I've called you for hours. Did Emmett go with your aunt?" Jasper asked.

"Sorry, man. I fell asleep and yeah, he did."

Jasper laughed. "You still coming tonight?" He asked.

I creased my face in confusion, before gasping as I remembered what I had forgotten. Shit! How could I forget? I had been so focused on Emmett going away that I had forgotten that Jasper and Alice were hosting an engagement party tonight. They said it was important that I came, since I was the best man at the wedding and Jasper's best friend.

"Yeah, of course," I answered.

"Good," Jasper hummed. "Wear something nice," he ordered, laughing before he hung up on me.

I stepped out of my bed, showering quickly before going to look for something to wear. I searched through my wardrobe, finding nothing that was suitable for the event. It had to be fancy, but not too much since it was really only a party. I decided in a long-sleeved, white shirt with black tie, some black pants and casual black and white sneakers.

I ate some horrible microwave dinner, grimacing with each bite I took but washed it down with a beer. I left the house at five, driving to the other side of town, where Alice and Jasper's house was. Their house was already surrounded by people when I arrived, most were in the back yard, talking and laughing. I looked around for Jasper or someone I knew, since half of the place was crowded with guests I didn't recognize.

I noticed Alice, speaking to her friend Angela and walked over to them.

"Alice," I greeted, pulling her into a hug.

"Edward, don't you look handsome," she teased, touching my tie. "I have never seen you in a shirt."

"This is the only one I own," I laughed.

Alice sighed, looking seriously pissed off, which made me laugh. Alice took fashion very seriously since it was her work, she owned a small boutique in Seattle town, not far from my apartment. She was very successful, her clothes had been recognized in many magazines and fashion shows. Alice directed me to where Jasper was as he was speaking to Ben - Angela's long-term boyfriend.

"Edward, how are you doing?" Ben asked me. I had only met him once or twice, he had went to school in Forks along with Alice, Angela and Bella, while Jasper and I had lived in Seattle for all of our lives. We had all met in college, though I was in the year above him so I didn't know him that well, though him and Jasper were good friends.

"I'm good," I answered. "How are you?"

"I'm great. Angela and I just moved in together," he explained. Ben and Angela had been together since high school, they took things very slow but they really were a great couple. Angela used to live with Bella, which meant that Bella would not have a room-mate now...or did she?

"Congratulations," I smiled.

"Ben!" Someone called from behind us, making Jasper, Ben and I turn around. Alice was running toward us, dragging along Angela and Bella. My eyes immediately landed on Bella, who looked fantastic. She was dressed in a peach colored dress, that was tight at her rib cage but then extended towards her hips. Her hair was curly, falling down her shoulders.

"Take a photo of us," Alice ordered me, handing me a camera. The three girls posed, though Bella looked reluctant. She smiled slightly and her cheeks flushed a bright cherry red, making her look embarrassed. I grinned as I took the picture, staring at Bella the whole time, while the flash and sound went off, indicating that the photo had been taken. I handed Alice the camera after looking myself and the three girls giggled as they saw it.

I don't know how it happened, but I was left alone with Bella somehow. Alice and Jasper went off to dance in the middle of the small dance floor in the back yard, while Angela and Ben went to speak to some old friends. Bella stood next to me, drinking a diet cola from the can, while I drank another beer. I think it was my fifth but I had lost count.

"How are you, Edward?" Bella asked me.

"Good," I answered, looking down at her. She was looking toward Alice and Jasper, who were happily dancing. "How are you?" I asked her.

"I'm good," she nodded, repeating my words. Bella held the camera in her hands, taking photos of Alice and Jasper and the guests. She turned to me and took a photo, making me flinch as the bright, white light flashed in my eyes. Bella giggled as she looked down at the photo, making me embarrassed when I saw it. The photo was horrible, I look completely stupid with a horrified look on my face due to the flash.

"Would you like to dance?" I asked Bella nervously as many people began to join in on Jasper and Alice's dancing. The song wasn't too fast luckily, meaning that I didn't have to really dance that much with Bella. She put her hand on my shoulder, while I put mine on her waist, feeling the warmth of her body spread onto mine, making my breathing hitch slightly.

"Where's Emmett?" Bella asked me, looking around for him.

"He's staying with our aunt in Engalnd," I explained.

"Forever?"

"No, a week." I chuckled.

"Oh," Bella realized, laughing along with me.

The song ended and Alice walked over to us.

"Bella, dance with me?" She asked as a really up beat song came on. Bella agreed and I walked back to the drinks table, glad to not have to dance to the songs. I watched as Alice and Bella danced along to Katy Perry, giggling at how childish they were being. Angela joined in and almost everyone's eyes in the back yard fell onto them.

By the end of the night, I was more than a little drunk. My words were slurring and I couldn't really focus on my walking. I couldn't drive home and since almost everyone else was drunk, I decided to walk home, which was a bad idea. It was dark and I was only wearing a shirt, meaning that with in ten minutes of walking I was already soaked from the weather.

"Edward?" Someone asked, making me jump. I turned around to see Bella in her Mercedes car, looking at me in horror. "I'll drive you home. It's freezing, get in!" She ordered. I listened to her and sat in the passenger seat, staring at her as she looked at me like I was crazy. "Everyone was wondering where you went at the party, why did you walk home?" She asked.

Had I not told everyone I was leaving? Shit!

"I'm a bit drunk, so I didn't want to drive," I admitted. "But thank you."

"No problem. Now, where do you live?" Bella asked.

"Bell Street," I said, pointing in the direction. We drove in silence and I wasn't sure what to say, I was still kinda drunk and not really sure what was going on. Bella drove into my street and I gestured to what apartment I lived in. She parked outside it and sighed at me, putting her hand on my arm. I looked down at her hand and my heart rate increased.

"You're really wet. Make sure you get dried up, okay?" Bella said.

"I will," I promised as she dropped her hand. I opened the door and got out but before I closed it, I bent down so that I was level with her. "Thank you," I told her again.

"Really, it was no problem. Goodbye, Edward. See you soon," she promised.

"See you soon," I repeated. Bella drove away and I really wondered what those words meant. See you soon? Did she just mean that as a goodbye, or did she really want to see me soon? When would she see me? I sighed as I unlocked my apartment, collapsing onto the couch. I broke my promise to Bella, I didn't get dried up before I went to bed, I fell straight to sleep on the couch.


	3. Memory Lane

**Chapter Three **

**Edward P.O.V **

"Mr Cullen, I assure you that I will sell both of these properties in order for you and your brother to move somewhere more suitable," Jeff Phillips said. Jeff was my parents' real estate agent and now he was mine too. I just had a meeting with him about selling my parents old house and my apartment, so that Emmett and I could move in somewhere better for the both of us.

Once the meeting was over, I went back home, thinking of what I could do today. Emmett had only been gone for two days, but I was missing the kid like crazy. I sighed and looked through an old box of my parents', filled with legal documents for their house and belongings, where they had signed everything over to Emmett and I.

I decided to drive to my parent's old house, the home I had grew up in. I wanted to get it cleared out before Emmett got home and it probably would take me a couple of days, which meant I would have something to do while Emmett was gone. I started with making a pile of things, the ones I would keep at home, things that could go into storage and things I would throw away.

The stuff I would keep at home was more clothes for Emmett, some of the things from his old bedroom and a few things that were important to my parents, like our family photos and videos. I threw away the basic stuff, old rugs, pillows and other junk and put the furniture and stuff into the storage pile, since they were expensive, like my mother's piano.

I went to the junk yard to throw away the pile of stuff I didn't need, before going back to my parent's house. I would put the furniture into storage another day, when I had some way to get it there and I packed up some of the things I wanted to keep to take home. When I got back to my apartment, I couldn't stay there for any longer.

I had to get out of the house, the memories that had come back of my parents in my childhood home had become too much and I couldn't handle it any more. This was why I wanted to get everything sorted before Emmett came back because if he wanted to help me then it would have been much harder for him that it was for me, since he was younger and more vulnerable.

I drove to the local pub, staying in there for a couple of hours to drink away my sorrows. I watched a couple of football games and occasionally spoke to the guy working behind the bar about the game. I was only drinking beer though, I didn't really fancy another repeat of the other night, where I had made a fool out of myself in front of Bella and woke up hung over and freezing.

"Drinking again? You're brave," Someone said from behind me. I turned around and almost groaned at who it was. It really did look like I was going to see Bella again, though I didn't look forward to embarrassing myself again. Bella was alone, holding her glass of red wine as she waited for me to reply and luckily, I did remember to this time.

"It's only beer," I assured her.

"Good, mind if I sit here?" Bella asked, gesturing to the seat next to me. I shook my head, telling her that I didn't mind and hoped that she figured out that I in fact, would mind if she _didn't_ sit there. "So, what brings you here?" Bella asked and I debated on telling her the truth or making something up.

"Avoiding my problems," I admitted.

"Ah," Bella nodded. "What would those be? If you don't mind me asking."

"Clearing out my dead parents' house."

Bella looked shocked at my blunt answer and I started at her, looking at her reaction. It was like what everyone reacted like, first was the guilt for asking, then the sadness and then usually the apologies but something changed with Bella, she didn't give me one of those lame apologies that normal people did, instead she looked curious.

"And how did that go for you?" She asked.

Was she crazy? I knew I had blown it with that crazy statement, but instead here she was, asking me about how it went. Usually girls would be gone if I said that, or so I thought. What did I know? I had only ever dated two girls in my life, one of them was in ninth grade, I didn't know a lot about girls actually.

"Not well."

"I would imagine so."

"Can I ask you something?" I asked and Bella nodded, taking a drink of her wine. "Why didn't you say 'sorry for your loss'? I don't want you to, but usually everyone else does and I'm wondering why you didn't."

"It's stupid, that's why."

"Huh?" I asked, extremely confused.

"If you say 'sorry for your loss' yes, it is respectful," Bella admitted, nodding her head. "But, most of the time, it's not true. Most people say it because they feel like they have to, instead I would like to know, how are you dealing with the death of your parents?" She asked and I was speechless, whether because what she said was true or that I didn't know how to answer her question, I didn't know.

"I'm doing okay," I lied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," I lied again.

"Hmm..." Bella said, not believing me.

"Can we change the subject?" I asked desperately.

"Sure."

* * *

"You can't be serious!" I laughed, slamming my hand off the bar. Bella nodded, giggling to herself. I had to admit, we were only a little tipsy but nothing too extreme, of course. I couldn't stop laughing as Bella told me stories about her and Alice in high-school and college, I was laughing the most when she told me that they were caught drinking underage at a party by Bella's dad, who was the chief of police in Forks.

"What did he do to you?" I asked curiously.

"Threatened to make me move back with my mom in Florida," Bella laughed. "But he didn't, I got grounded for a month or something."

"Your parents are divorced?" I asked.

"Yes, they got divorced when I was a baby. I've switched homes between Florida and Forks ever since then, but now I'm glad to have my place in Seattle."

"Did Angela move out?"

"Yeah, it's just me now."

"No boyfriend? That's hard to believe," I laughed.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked.

"I mean, look at you!" I huffed, gesturing toward her. "Don't you have boys all over you?"

Bella blushed. "No, but I could ask the same thing about you!"

I shook my head, laughing and blushing at what she said.

We were kicked out off the bar when it was too late for us to stay anymore and I insisted that Bella should come back to mine, since my apartment was closer that her's. When we arrived back at mine, I kicked off my shoes and she did the same, before I ordered her to sit and watch tv, while I made us some coffee. We watched a movie and hung out, eating popcorn and laughing at some of the funny cartoons that were on.

It was around three in the morning when Bella fell asleep.

Her head rested on my shoulder, while her eyes were closed and her breathing was slow and relaxed. I moved Bella's head off my shoulder and gathered her into my arms, lifting her off the couch. I hoped she wouldn't wake up and that she wouldn't mind I did this when she woke up, since I was extremely aware that my hand was close to resting on her ass.

I laid her on my bed and wrapped her up in the covers, closing my blinds to block out any light and closed the door behind me. I turned off the tv, cleared up the food and drinks we had, before going into Emmett's room. I was glad Emmett was tall for a boy and had a double bed, as it meant that I could actually fit in it and get a good nights sleep.


	4. Date

**Chapter Four**

**Edward P.O.V **

I woke up unusually happy. Bella wasn't awake so I started on making some breakfast, which I wasn't doing very well at since I really couldn't cook. The pancake mix was either too thick or too thin and I just couldn't get it right. I threw it away and went to get dressed, deciding that I would take Bella out for breakfast. I was watching a football game and drinking coffee when my bedroom door opened.

Bella walked out of the room, yawning as she looked around in confusion. Had she forgotten where she was? She noticed me on the couch and jumped a little, making me laugh. "Edward?" She asked, looking extremely confused. Bella had messy bed head and it was kind of cute, making me smile as she walked towards me.

"Good morning, sleepy head." I teased.

"Morning. I'm sorry for falling asleep here," she apologized.

"It's fine."

"Do you mind if I use the bathroom?" Bella asked and I pointed her into the direction it was in. She walked down the hall and closed the door behind her and I focused on watching the game while she was in there. When she came back out, her clothes were straightened and she had fixed her hair, making me grin as her face was flushed, probably from embarrassment.

"Would you like to go out for breakfast?" I asked.

"Sure," she agreed. I grabbed my wallet, car keys and phone from the table while Bella got her bag and put on her shoes. We walked out of my apartment and to my car, where I drove to a local pancake place. Bella ordered some normal pancakes, while I got some chocolate chip ones that were also covered in chocolate sauce. We argued over who would pay the bill and I won.

Bella checked her phone as we ate and she sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked in concern.

"Alice. She's making me go shopping today," Bella explained, looking devastated.

"Don't girls usually love shopping?" I asked, laughing a little.

"Not me. What are your plans for today?"

"I think I'll finish my parents' house," I explained, looking down. Bella didn't reply and after we were finished eating, I took her home. Her apartment wasn't far from mine, only around 10 minutes away, so it didn't take me long. I parked outside and cut the engine, turning to Bella. I didn't want her to leave for some reason, maybe because I didn't want to be alone?

"Edward, thanks for letting me crash at yours last night." Bella said, opening the car door.

"Bella?" I asked before she got out my car. "Would you...like to go out sometime?"

My heart was racing as I worried about her reply, my hands were shaking, while my heartbeat was going into a frenzy. My palms felt sweaty and my head was spinning. Bella looked shocked, before she smiled. "Sure," she agreed, taking out her phone and giving it to me. I gave her mine and we exchanged numbers, so that I could contact her on when we could go out.

"See you soon, Edward." She said and there it was, those words again. The ones that I didn't understand last time.

"See you soon," I repeated, knowing that this time that the words were true.

* * *

"Hello?" I said, answering my phone. I had just got back to my apartment after spending the day at my parents' house, I managed to get the furniture into storage and bring the things I was keeping back to my apartment. The house was now ready to be sold, all that I had to do now was clear up my apartment so that could be sold too.

"Hey!" Emmett greeted, sounding cheery. I could hear something in the back ground, it was like waves or rain. I could hear birds chipping and my Aunt Beth speaking to someone, she sounded more like she was screaming. I creased my face in confusion, wondering what the hell was going on in England with my aunt and Emmett.

"Is that Aunt Beth screaming?" I asked.

"Yeah, we're at the beach. The birds are attacking her."

"England has beaches?" I mocked, making Emmett laugh loudly.

"Yes, you moron."

"What time's it there?"

"Just past one, we've spent the entire morning at the beach," Emmett explained.

"Well, I hope you're having fun."

"I am," he assured me. "Edward, I've gotta go. Aunt Beth is being attacked by the birds again, I'll speak to you soon. Okay?"

"Okay, bye Emmett!" I said, hanging up. I laughed as the last thing I heard was Aunt Beth screaming again. I went back to sorting out my parents' things, the stuff I had brought back from their house I kept in their boxes, since they would be moving again soon anyway. I began to pack up my room, that was mostly filled with books and music.

By the end of the night, I was so tired that I went to relax and decided to finish my apartment off tomorrow. I was reading a newspaper when the news hit me, there was a job opening at the same hospital that my father used to work in and I had all the qualifications needed. I wrote the details I needed on a piece of paper, so that I could phone tomorrow to see if I could get an interview.

I laid in bed that night, imagining what it would be like to get the job. I knew it was stupid for me to get my hopes up, since I didn't even have an interview yet but I couldn't help it. The thought of me working in a busy hospital, helping people who needed medical assistance, sent shivers down my spine. It was my dream job and probably one of the only chances I had for it.

I remembered when I was younger and I would go and visit my dad while he was working. I practically could walk around that hospital with my eyes closed, I knew it that well. My dad had been a very well-known man, he was honored by many other doctors. He was my hero and until this day, he still was. The work he did for people, the lives he saved was remarkable.

I glanced over at my clock to see that it was only half 11 at night. I decided to text Bella before I went to sleep, even though it did look a bit desperate that I was contacting her on the same day I asked her out on a date. Was it a date? It felt like that to me, but I wondered if it was the same for her... I just hoped she wasn't asleep or that I would wake her up when I text.

_Hey, Bella. It's Edward, I was just wondering if you were free this Saturday? I could pick you up at 6:30, if that's okay? Thanks._

I must have retyped the message over ten times before I decided on that. I thought Saturday was a good day, since it meant that it would give me another three days to empty my apartment and then Emmett would be back home on the Sunday. I was beginning to fall asleep, when my phone vibrated. I rushed to see the reply, thankful to find out that it was Bella.

_Hi, Edward. Saturday is great. I'll see you at 6:30, it's a date :) _

So, it really was a date.


	5. Sold

**Chapter Five **

**Edward P.O.V **

"You did what?" Jasper asked, taking a drink of his coffee. I met him at Starbucks to talk about Bella and I, though he didn't believe me when I said I had asked her out on a date. I couldn't blame Jasper for not believing me, in college I only had one girlfriend and _she_ asked me out, I had just never really been interested in girls. I mean, I wasn't gay or anything, I just didn't really date.

"I swear I asked her out. She also spent the night at my house, though nothing happened. Of course."

"Bella Swan, spent the night at your house?" He repeated.

"Yes."

"Do you like her?" Jasper asked. I thought about my answer carefully, I was extremely attracted to Bella, she was probably the most beautiful girl I had ever saw and she did interest me, she was different from other girls, which shocked me. I guess I did like her, the feelings I got when I was around her were like nothing else.

"Yes," I nodded.

"Then that's great!" Jasper cheered, pulling me into a hug.

"Where am I going to take her though?" I asked, struggling on the thought of a restaurant. I couldn't really imagine taking her to eat at a restaurant, since that wouldn't be very private. A movie was also a bad idea, it was always quiet, which meant that I couldn't really speak to her that well. I was torn in deciding.

"I took Alice to a concert on our first date," Jasper shrugged. I didn't know why, but that also didn't seem like a good idea. It just didn't seem right to take Bella to a noisy concert, where people would be dancing and getting drunk. It didn't seem like her type of thing and it definitely wasn't mine either.

"I'll figure something out," I sighed.

"When's your interview?" Jasper asked.

"Sunday," I answered. I phoned yesterday about the opening job at the hospital and the doctors agreed to an interview with me, though I had to admit that I was really nervous about it. I worried about how I was going to get my words out, if I was anxious just thinking about it then I was paranoid about what I would be like at the real interview.

"That's great. It seems like things are really looking up for you," Jasper smiled and he was right. I had a date with Bella, Emmett and I were getting a bit better, I had a job interview and we already had people viewing both my apartment and my parents' old house. Things were going great for what they could be in the circumstances I was in.

"Crap, Jasper. I've got to go and meet Jeff," I said, glancing at the clock. I gulped down my roasting hot coffee, said goodbye to Jasper - who was going back to work - and rushed back into my car. I drove to the real estate agents and found Jeff sitting at his desk, looking through some papers. He stood up when he noticed me, shook my hand and gestured for me to sit down.

"We have an offer on your parents' house," Jeff said.

"Really? That's great. How much?" I asked.

"Just over 1.5 million."

I coughed loudly, choking on the air in the room. Was that really how much it was worth? I mean sure it was large, with four-bedrooms and all of them were en suite but I still didn't expect it to be sold for that much. I didn't even really expect it to be sold for over one million, never mind even over that. I wondered who wanted to buy it and why they would pay that much.

"Is it really worth that?" I asked.

"Oh yes, Mr Cullen. It's probably even worth more than that, but in this economy...Anyway, it's a young family that put the bid in, they have three kids and are in love with the property. They like how large it is and the size of the back yard, they are also willing to pay more, if you want it?"

"No!" I almost screamed. "That will be plenty."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I want to sell it to them."

Although it would be horrible to have to sell my childhood home, I tried to think of the positive things from it. I would be getting money so that Emmett and I could move into somewhere better for us, we wouldn't have to deal with the memories that came from it and we would be giving a young family their dream home, just like how my parents were when they moved in.

"Okay, I just need you to sign here." Jeff said, passing me contracts, documents and other legal forms. Once I had signed them all, I handed the keys over to Jeff and that was it, my childhood home was no longer mine. There had been no bids on my apartment, though three people had viewed it and were all possibly interested.

I assigned a day that Emmett and I could meet Jeff, so that we could go and start looking for a house for ourselves. I described to him what we needed, a three-bedroom house but not too large, it had to be close to Emmett's school and my possible future work. We also wanted something with a possible office, two large bathrooms and a decent sized kitchen.

Once I was finished speaking to Jeff, I left to go back to my apartment. My date with Bella was tomorrow and I still hadn't figured out where I could take her, though on the plus side, I had finished packing up the other rooms in my apartment. When I got home, I found my laptop in my room and laid on the bed, while I searched for places to take Bella.

After an hour of searching and still finding nothing, I eventually gave up. I put my laptop back on the small desk in my room, that used to be covered in books until I had packed them all away. I went into the living room and sat on the couch, looking through the boxes of my parents' things, one of them was full of photos from years ago.

I was looking through the ones from our holiday when I came across my favorite photo ever. It was one of my parents, Emmett and I at Madrona Beach, where we had often went to have picnics and family days out. My dad had his arm around me and my mom in the picture, while Emmett was only a baby held in her arms. It hit me then, that I knew where I could take Bella.

Madrona Beach was only around half an hour away, I could make some food - or even better, ask Alice - and Bella and I could have a picnic at the beach. The weather was supposed to be nice tomorrow night, meaning that we could take a lovely drive there and then relax at the beach, plus there wouldn't be that many people there since we were going late.

I decided to phone Alice to tell her my plans.

"Hello?" She answered on the third ring.

"Alice, who are you with?" I asked, making sure that Bella wasn't there.

"Just Jasper, why?"

"I have an idea on where to take Bella tomorrow, but I need your help."

"What's your idea?" Alice asked.

"I was thinking of taking her to Madrona Beach to have a picnic, do you think she'll like that?"

"Oh, Edward!" Alice squealed. "That's so romantic. She'll love it! But what do you need my help with?"

"Well...you know how I can't cook?" I hinted, laughing awkwardly.

"Edward," Alice sighed. "Come here tomorrow before you pick her up and I'll have the food ready."

"Thank you so much, Alice!" I grinned, looking forward to tomorrow.

"You're welcome. Bye, Edward. See you tomorrow," she said, hanging up.

I dropped my phone the couch and laughed in relief. Alice knew Bella better than anyone else, she was her best friend after all, and if she said that Bella was going to like it, then I was going to take her word. I hoped everything would go well, or I was going to look stupid if it didn't. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, though now all I had to worry about was getting everything right.


	6. Beach

**Chapter Six**

**Edward P.O.V **

"Edward, you're late!" Alice moaned. She was already waiting for me outside with Jasper, who had his hands full with a large basket. I stepped out of my car and he handed it to me, making me almost drop it from the weight. Damn, it was heavy. Jasper laughed at my weakness and took it back off me, putting it in the backseat of my car, next to the blankets, towels and change of clothes I had also brought.

"Alice, how much food did you make?" I asked, eyeing the large basket. I could see a bottle of wine popping out from the top of it and I smiled, Alice had really went to a lot of trouble.

"Enough. Now go. Bella will be waiting!" She ordered, pushing me back into my car.

"Thank you," I told her.

"Good luck!" Alice and Jasper told me as I drove away. Although it was past six at night, the air was still hot and the sky was still light, but by the time we got to the beach, I was sure it would be darker. Bella was waiting for me outside her apartment when I arrived and I felt guilty, I was ten minutes late! She was dressed in a tight, dark blue dress with black high-heels and her hair was pinned up, with some curly pieces of her hair surrounded her face.

"Hey, I'm so sorry I'm late." I apologized as she sat in the passenger seat.

"It's fine." Bella smiled, turning to me.

"How are you?" I asked as I began to drive. I was getting nervous, my hands were shaking already.

"I'm great, thanks. How are you?"

"I'm good," I nodded, though it was technically a lie. I was really nervous.

Bella looked around at the back seat and her face showed confusion as she noticed the blankets, basket and clothes. I held in my laughter as she noticed we were driving North, Alice had told me before that she didn't like surprises but I wanted where we were going to be one.

"So...Where are we going?" Bella asked casually and I grinned.

"It's a secret."

"Edward," Bella moaned, making me almost stop the car as she said my name_ that_ way. "Please, tell me." She begged and I almost did. Bella was good at charming people, whether she knew it or not. Her bottom lip stuck out more and chocolate-brown eyes looked upset. Damn, she was good.

"Nope," I refused, sticking to my word. Bella huffed and sat back in her seat, letting the subject drop. We talked while I drove, I told Bella about my job interview tomorrow and she looked surprised.

"You have a medical degree?" She asked.

"Yes," I nodded. "My dad was a doctor, I wanted the same job as him."

"Wow," Bella whispered.

"What about you? What made you want to become a teacher?" I asked, realizing that I didn't know much about Bella's job, just that she taught English at Cleveland.

"Uh, I'm not sure. My mom was a kindergarten teacher, but I didn't want to teach little kids, so I decided to teach at high-school level and since I already had an English degree then it just kind of sprung on me."

"What? You didn't want to be a cop like your dad?" I mocked, laughing loudly.

"No!" Bella almost screamed, giggling.

By the time we arrived at Madrona Beach it was darker and a little colder too. Bella looked around in shock as she took in the scenery, from here you could see Washington Lake and most of the Seattle Town. It really was a beautiful place. Luckily, no one was here so Bella and I got an amazing spot on the beach. I laid a blanket down for us to sit on and gave on to Bella to wrap around her, since she was only wearing a dress.

"This place is amazing," Bella said as I took out the basket. Alice had made sandwiches and some cake, and put in some cold chicken, chips, dips and soft drinks, along with a bottle of wine.

"So you like it?" I asked, giving her a sandwich.

"I love it," She replied, biting into her sandwich and moaning. "This is so good, did you make this?" Bella asked, looking at me suspiciously. I wasn't going to lie because if she knew me for any longer, then soon enough she would know that I couldn't cook.

"Alice made them," I blushed.

"Alice knew about this?" Bella asked in surprise and I nodded. She was right, the sandwiches were good, I ate both of mine in a matter of minutes, while Bella was still on her first, giggling at me. I drank some of the soda Alice had packed while I waited for Bella to finish her's so that we could start eating the chicken and chips.

I wrapped a blanket around Bella as she shivered and she looked at me as my arms wrapped around her shoulders, while she grinned at me. The night was starting to get cold, I shivered too but didn't have a blanket since we were sitting on the other one I brought. Bella noticed this and shuffled closer to me, so that her shoulders were now hitting off mine. She wrapped some of the blanket around me, so that we were both wrapped in it.

"How do you know about this place?" Bella asked, eating some chips.

"My parents used to take Emmett and I here when we were younger," I answered sadly.

Bella's face showed mixed emotions. "You would take me here, when it has so much value to you?" She seemed shocked.

"I care about you a lot, Bella." I replied, leaning closer to her. She looked up at me, smiling slightly.

"Really?" She asked and I nodded. "Well, I care about you too."

I grinned and turned around to retrieve the wine and cake, holding them up to her. We ate the cake - which was even better than the sandwiches - and Bella drank a couple of glasses of the wine, where as I only had one, since I was driving home. Bella laid her head on my shoulder as I drank my wine and I grinned, looking down at her, as she stared at the water.

"Would you like to go in?" I asked her.

"I'll get all wet," Bella laughed.

"We could just put our feet in, I have more clothes."

I held Bella's hand as we walked forward into the water. Her hand was so small as it fit into mine and for once after being with Bella, I wasn't nervous anymore. She made me feel a lot more comfortable when it was just me and her. It was amazing to just watch her now, as she spread her feet into the cold water.

"It's so cold," Bella giggled. I rolled up my jeans and walked a little further in than her and she followed me, but as she walked she tripped and fell into the water. I ran forward in shocked and pulled her up, making sure that she was okay. Her dress was all wet and she laughed into my shoulder, even though she was freezing.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine, just a klutz." She reassured me.

"I dread to think what you will be like when you walk down Alice's aisle," I joked.

"Don't remind me," Bella groaned.

We walked back to the beach and I wrapped the blanket around Bella again, so that she was a little warmer, while I went to get her some of the clean clothes I had brought. All I had was a really big t-shirt of mine and some of my sweats, which I imagined would be huge on her but at least they would be warm. I walked back to the beach and handed them to Bella.

"Where can I get changed?" She asked.

"You could go to the car?" I suggested. "I won't look, I swear!" I shouted as she walked away.

I looked at the water while I waited for her and wrapped the blanket around myself. When Bella came back, I couldn't help but laugh at what she looked like. My sweats were huge on her, just like I thought, and drowned her legs, while my t-shirt basically hung off her.

"Don't you look...cute," I complimented. Bella sat down next to me and wrapped some of the blanket around herself, before slapping my chest.

"Shut up," she joked.

"I'm serious. I like my clothes on you." I leaned forward, so that I was facing Bella, who moved closer to me.

_This was it_, I panicked.

Bella laid her hand on my shoulder, moving closer to me. I stared at her lips, while I placed my hands on her waist. She closed her eyes and I did the same, leaning closer until my lips eventually landed on her's. Bella gasped and opened her mouth, allowing me entrance. Our lips moved in sync with each other and I moaned as her tongue touched mine.

Bella's hands found their way into my hair, pulling at the ends of my messy locks and making me moan, while my hands felt up and down her back. This was it, the sparks I had never left with any other girl. The feeling of something starting, the feeling that I now had Bella, knowing that she was now definitely more that a friend.

I pulled away and Bella's eyes opened as she stared into mine. I leaned away and grinned, feeling like I was fifteen again, while Bella silently laid her head back on my shoulder. We didn't say anything to each other, I didn't want to ruin the moment but after about an hour, the wind was picking up and it was getting darker and colder.

"Should we head home?" I asked quietly. Bella nodded and we packed up our things, though I didn't let go of her hand, I just couldn't let her go. While I drove home, Bella laid her head on my shoulder again and we both didn't speak, instead we listened to music. Around half way home, Bella fell asleep and as I parked outside her apartment, I was unsure what to do.

"Bella?" I whispered in her ear. Her eyes opened and she smiled at me as she looked around.

"I guess, I'll see you soon?" She asked, opening the car door. I nodded but before she got out, I pulled her back and gave her one last short kiss.

"Goodnight," I told her.

"Night, Edward."


	7. Dinner Party

**Chapter Seven **

**Edward P.O.V **

"Emmett, over here!" I shouted over the crowds of people in the airport. I pushed through them as he noticed me and grinned, meeting me in the middle. I pulled him into a hug, which was embarrassing for him, since there was many people watching us but I didn't care, I had missed my little brother and I wasn't going to deny it.

"Hey, Edward." Emmett greeted once I let go of him.

"Hey, kid. How was your flight?" I had been worried since he had to take the plane back himself because our Aunt Beth had work but he assured me it was fine.

"It was okay. I'm tired though," Emmett said, yawning. I took his bags off him and began to lead him out of the airport, pushing past the people who were either boarding their plane or just off it. Once we got to my car, Emmett hurried into the passenger seat and laid his head on the window, as his eyes closed.

"Have you had dinner?" I asked and he silently shook his head in return. I sighed and drove to McDonald's, which wasn't that busy due to how late it was. I went in and got Emmett a meal, before going back to the car to give it to him, which he ate while I drove home. I was itching to tell Emmett the good news, but I waited until he asked.

"What did I miss?" He eventually said.

"Quite a lot actually," I chuckled.

"Like what?"

"Well, I sold our old house." I explained first and he smiled, though I knew it was fake. I didn't press on the issue because I knew that he didn't want to talk about it.

"That's good, what else?" Emmett asked.

"I went on a date."

"What?" Emmett almost screamed, bursting into laughter.

"I took Bella Swan to Madrona Beach," I said and his laughing stopped.

"Did she like it?" He whispered and I could tell that he was thinking of the times we used to go there.

"Yes and today, I had a job interview."

"Where?"

"At dad's old work. The doctor that interviewed me was an old friend of his, he said I was in with a good chance of getting the job."

"Edward, that's great!" Emmett grinned.

By this time, we had arrived home and I parked the car, cutting off the engine and reaching to get Emmett's bags. I kicked my shoes off at the door and Emmett did the same, going into his room to unpack. I waited for a second until he eventually came back to see me, looking confused as he held one of the boxes his stuff was in.

"Why are all my things in boxes? Are you kicking me out?" He joked.

I laughed. "No, we're moving. I got an offer on this place too, all we have to do is find a new house."

"Are you serious?" Emmett cheered, looking excited. He hated my apartment, it was apparently too small for him and his room wasn't 'awesome' enough for him, as he had put it. "Can I choose my room?" He asked and I nodded.

"We have to go and meet the real estate agent tomorrow to go looking for houses," I explained.

"Okay. Do you think we'll move in before I start school?"

"I'm not sure, maybe?" I guessed, though I really didn't know. Emmett and I had many houses to look at and we would have to choose, which we only had one week to do and move all of our stuff in, I wasn't sure if it was possible. Emmett went to go back into his room before I remembered our plans for the day after tomorrow.

"Oh, Emmett?" I said, calling him back.

"Yeah?"

"On Wednesday, would you mind coming out on my date with me?" I asked. Emmett's face looked confused until he realized what I meant. Bella and I had spoken on the phone before I went for my interview and she had asked me if I wanted to go out again, though it was her idea to bring Emmett too, which I was fine with.

"Sure," he sighed, agreeing.

"Great! We're going to the zoo."

* * *

"I think you will both be very interested in this property," Jeff said to Emmett and I as we pulled over outside a great house. It looked huge from the outside, with a large porch and a seat outside. Inside was different, to the left of us was a small sitting area, with a large tv and coffee table and to the right was a small den, that had a pool table and desk inside it.

To the back was a hallway that led to the kitchen, which was very large and modern, with a dining room connected to it. Upstairs was two hallways, down to the left was a large bedroom, with an en suite bathroom and another room next to it, that wasn't en suite but there was a bathroom just across from it. The right side of the hallway was another en suite bedroom and a small room next to it, that could be used as an office.

"What do you think?" Jeff asked.

"I really like it," Emmett answered. "It's the best out of the other ones we've viewed."

Emmett was right, it was the best that we had seen and it was the most suitable for us. The hospital wasn't a far drive, Emmett's school wasn't that far either and I silently noted that Bella's apartment was only a few blocks away. I really liked it and although it wasn't perfect, I knew that we could change some things like the decor and rooms.

After we were finished viewing the house, Emmett and I left Jeff because that was our last house to view. I drove to Alice and Jasper's house, since they had invited us over for dinner tonight. As I parked my car outside their house, I groaned. They had set me up. Bella's Mercedes was also parked outside and Emmett raised his eyebrow at me.

"Bella's here," I explained, gesturing to her car.

"Oh, you gonna kiss her?" He teased and I chuckled at his childish games.

I knocked on their door and unsurprisingly Alice opened the door, with a huge grin on her face. She hugged Emmett since this was the first time she had seen him since he left for England and so did Jasper. Once we had finished greeting each other, I followed them both into the kitchen, where Bella and Angela were sitting.

Bella had her back turned to us, though Angela noticed Emmett and I and smirked, making Bella follow her gaze and as she noticed us, she also grinned.

"Let me guess, Alice?" She asked me and I nodded.

"Hey," I greeted as I sat next to her and Angela.

"Hi," Bella said back, staring at me. I didn't look away from her and eventually Emmett coughed loudly, causing Bella to turn away from me and look at him.

"Hey, Emmett. Welcome home," she said, blushing as she saw that everyone was staring at us. Jasper and Emmett began to play guitar hero, while I watched the girls make dinner. They spoke about stuff that I wasn't really listening to but instead I watched Bella - more liked stalked her - and when she noticed, she looked up and grinned at me.

"What?" She asked as she made the icing for Alice's cake.

"Nothing," I shrugged, though I was smirking which made her suspicious.

"What?" She repeated, touching my chest and pushing me jokingly.

"Nothing, you just uh...you look great," I told her and she grinned. Alice, Angela, Emmett and Jasper were all in the living room, so while we were alone, I took my chance and kissed her lightly. Things hadn't changed since our date because she leaned forward, deepening the kiss. We both heard a loud laugh and turned to find Jasper and Emmett staring at us.

Bella gasped and blushed bright red, moving away from me to get back to making the icing. Jasper grabbed a can of soda and smirked at us both, while Emmett stayed in the kitchen, watching both of us. I widened my eyes at him, wondering why the hell he was staring at us and he winked back at me. Oh god, what was he going to do?

"So are you guys...dating or whatever?" Emmett asked, just as I took a drink of my soda. I choked on the soda but luckily managed to swallow it as I burst into a fit of coughing. Bella looked shocked and as everyone entered the kitchen, she blushed a bright red.

"What's going on here?" Alice asked and I tried to stop Emmett from speaking, but he ran away from me before I could.

"I asked Bella and Edward if they were dating," he explained to everyone.

"Uh..." Bella trailed off, looking at me. In that split moment of panic, I didn't know what I was going to say. If I said yes, would Bella think we were moving too fast? And if I said no, would she think I was rejecting her? I honestly didn't know what we were but luckily Jasper saved me.

"Mind your own business," he warned Emmett playfully.

Alice changed the conversation to about her wedding and I was thankful, when we got home Emmett was dead for asking that. Though, I understood that he was just curious, especially since I hadn't actually told him that I kissed Bella, but I was sure he realized that I had now. Bella sat next to me while we ate dinner and I held her hand under the table.

Everyone was too focused on Alice and Jasper's story to notice us and Bella turned to me and smirked, trailing her fingers over my hand. When we were finished dinner, I took a walk around the large back yard that Alice and Jasper had to talk to Bella. She held my hand while we walked and I was glad that nobody knew where we were to bother us.

"Bella, about what Emmett asked..." I trailed off and she smiled.

"You want to know the answer to that?" She asked and I nodded, looking down in worry. "I really like you, Edward," she continued, making me look up. "And I wouldn't mind classing us as dating, but if you don't want that then - "

"No, I want that!" I said, cutting her off. Bella giggled and leaned forward, placing her hands on my neck and making me move closer to her, not that I minded.

"Good," she whispered, before placing her lips on mine.


	8. Zoo

**Chapter Eight**

**Edward P.O.V**

"Emmett, hurry! We're going to be late," I called from my bedroom, while I put on my blue shirt. I tied my shoes and walked into the living room, to find Emmett all ready and waiting on me. We left my apartment and I drove towards Bella's house, so that we could go out on our date to the zoo today. As I drove, I thought of one important question that I had forgotten to mention.

"Emmett, how do you feel about me dating Bella?" I asked.

"Oh, so now you're dating her?" He joked.

"Yes, now answer. Seriously."

"I like her," he shrugged.

"That's all?" I asked.

"Okay, I really like her," he admitted. "Plus, she makes good food. Better than you anyway."

"Hey!" I defended myself, laughing at his reply. I was glad he liked her, she was very important to me. Bella was waiting outside her apartment when we arrived, dressed in some simple black jeans, a t-shirt and leather jacket, since it was actually pretty cold today. I even had a jacket on too.

"Hello," I said to Bella as she sat in the passenger seat, switching with Emmett as he sat in the back.

"Hi," she replied.

It only took over half an hour for us to arrive at the zoo and while I drove, Bella and Emmett talked mostly. I smiled as I listened to them, they seemed to be getting on well and I could tell that Emmett liked her more than he let on, which I was glad about since I wanted Bella in my life, though if the situation was reversed and Emmett didn't like her, I wasn't sure what I would do.

I bought our tickets and we went to the Tropical Rain Forest exhibition first, which was a long walkway that led to a building where you could see the jaguars, we watched them for a while and took photos and then moved on to see the underwater section. Most of the animals there were from South America and there were a lot of tropical birds.

We visited the Asian elephants which was amazing, Emmett looked amazed to see one so close by since it was so huge. Bella took some photos of Emmett and I in front of it and I took some of her and Emmett. We moved on to see the wolves, grizzly bears - which Emmett loved - and eagles. We took a break after seeing them to have some lunch from one of the food stalls and while Emmett looked around, Bella spoke to me.

"Have you decided about that house?" She asked me.

"I'm not sure, I still have to speak to Emmett about it."

"What about the hospital? Have you heard back from them?"

"No," I sighed, worrying that I hadn't got the job.

"Don't panic, it's only been what? Three days?" Bella asked and I nodded.

We moved on to see the African exhibit which included giraffes, zebras, gazelles, oryxes, ostriches and lions. We watched the lions for a while, which Emmett said were surprisingly boring, since they didn't move around much and then moved on to the snow leopards and tigers. We visited the outdoor penguin exhibit last, which was made to look like their natural habitat in Peru and had cliffs and pools in it.

By the end of the day, the three of us were exhausted from the amount of walking that we had done. The zoo was huge and my feet hurt badly from me being so lazy, which made me even more glad to be back in the car. I stopped off at the supermarket before we went home, so that I could buy some things for dinner, since Bella was making it at our apartment.

When we got home, Emmett went into his room to play video games, which gave me some alone time with Bella. I tried to help her cook but I mostly just got in the way, especially since I dropped half of the dough we were using to make a pizza. Bella giggled as half of the flour I was holding landed on my face and made me look even paler than I already was.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked her, throwing some of the flour in her direction. It went all over her clothes and into most of her hair and face, causing her to gasp loudly.

"Edward," she moaned, throwing tomatoes at me. If she wanted a food fight, I was going to give her one. I picked up a load of cheese and Bella's eyes widened as I threatened her with it. "You wouldn't!" She screamed just as I threw the cheese, which landed mostly over my kitchen floor. Before Bella could grab anything else, I ran forward and grabbed her, pushing her to the floor.

I landed on top of her, while she laughed loudly, making me grin. We were both covered in flour, while I had tomato sauce dripping from my hair and bits of cheese were stuck in her's. The kitchen walls were covered in the food we were throwing around and the wooden floor that was usually a nice brown, was now white from the flour.

Oh well.

I leaned forward and placed a kiss on Bella's lips as her hands wrapped around neck, finding their way into my hair. The kiss was probably the furthest we had went, since we were both laying on my kitchen floor but the moment was ruined as I heard Emmett's bedroom door open. Bella eyes opened as I stood up, pulling her with me.

"Is the pizza almost - " Emmett's question was cut off as he noticed us and started laughing loudly, while Bella and I glanced at each other. Tears of laughter were falling down Emmett's face and I wondered if it was really that funny. "What happened here?" Emmett asked, once he had calmed down.

"How about we go out for dinner?" I asked, avoiding his question.


	9. The Call

**Chapter Nine **

**Edward P.O.V **

"I'll take good care of Emmett, Edward. Don't worry," Alice promised, walking out of my apartment door with Emmett. I watched as they both got into her car and waved as they drove away. I went back into my room and looked at myself in the mirror, making sure I looked okay for when I met Bella. It wasn't really another date, since Jasper would be there too.

Bella, Alice and Jasper had helped me to start moving my things into my new house. I bought it on Thursday and was to sell my apartment to a college student as soon as I had moved out and over the past couple of days, I had worked hard on decorating the house. We had painted all the rooms, laid all the floors and carpets and were done with decorating.

Jasper and Bella would be helping me move all of our things in today, since I had hired a moving truck to carry all of it, while Alice would be taking Emmett out for some new clothes since he started high-school in two days. There was a knock at my door and I opened it, to find Jasper and Bella.

"Hey, guys." I greeted, gesturing them in. I stopped Bella though and place a soft kiss on her lips, while Jasper walked into the kitchen, leaving us alone. "Do you know that we've only been dating a week exactly?" I asked her. Bella looked shocked as I walked into the living room and retrieved the roses I had bought her, handing them to her.

"Edward, that's so sweet." Bella grinned, leaning up to kiss me. "But I didn't get you anything," she said once she pulled away.

"You have," I insisted. "You've helped me out so much over the past couple of days with the house, thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Are you two going to get started or what?" Jasper asked as he walked outside, holding two very large boxes that held all my books. I laughed and pulled Bella into the living room with me and picked up two boxes, while Bella struggled with one, which made me laugh.

"Shut up!" She giggled as we walked to the truck. I put them in the back with the other boxes and after half an hour, we had almost every box in the back. I locked the back doors and drove to the house with Bella, while Jasper followed in his car, that also had some boxes in it. We started with putting all of Emmett's boxes in his room, then all of mine in my room and then putting the rest of the boxes in either the kitchen or living room.

Once all the boxes were unpacked, we went back to my apartment to take the large furniture. We fitted our large flat screen TV in - that belonged in the living room - another two small TVs that were from mine and Emmett's rooms, the couches and our dining room table. After three more drives back and forth from my apartment to our new house, we were finally finished with all the furniture. I also went to retrieve my mom's grand piano from the storage I had put it in and Bella looked shocked to find out that I played.

"When did you learn?" She asked me.

"My mom taught me since I was a kid," I explained.

Alice and Emmett arrived back from shopping then and Emmett loved his room, even though most of his stuff were still in their boxes but at least his TV, bed and desk were there. I jumped as my phone rang in my pocket, causing everyone to glance at me. I excused myself and went into the kitchen for privacy but was confused when it was an unknown number.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hello, is this Edward Cullen?" Someone asked and I didn't recognize their voice.

"Yes."

"Hi, Edward. This is Dr. Phil Steven, I'm calling on regard of your interview." I almost dropped the phone from panicking, my hands were shaking and my head was spinning. Oh god, here came the rejection.

"Oh, yeah?" I asked casually.

"Well, I'm delighted to tell you that we would like to offer you a place here. If your still interested?" Phil asked and I almost screamed in joy. Surely, no one could have this much luck in a matter of weeks? I was moving into a new house, was finally dating the perfect girl and got my dream job. I must have dreamed his words. "Edward?" Phil asked when I didn't reply.

"Oh, yes. I'm still interested."

"Great, you start next Wednesday. If that's okay?" He asked.

"That's perfect. Thank you, Phil."

"You're welcome. Goodbye, Edward." He said, hanging up.

I walked back into the living room with the biggest grin on my face ever, making everyone look at me curiously.

"Who was that?" Emmett asked.

"Dr. Phil Steven," I shrugged. Everyone's faces were confused until Emmett realized what I meant.

"Dad's old friend?" He asked.

"Wait, the one that interviewed you?" Bella asked after him and I nodded at both of them.

"I got the job!" I shouted excitedly and Emmett chanted, running forward to hug me. Bella was next to reach me as she hugged me tight, whispering congratulations in my ear. I should have spent the rest of the night unpacking all of our stuff, but instead I celebrated, drinking beer and wine with Alice, Jasper and Bella.

Emmett went to bed and Alice and Jasper got a taxi home, since they had work in the morning. Bella sat next to me, while I played some of my old compositions on the piano, though I hadn't really played since the crash last year. Bella laid her head on my shoulder and silently listened to me, though when it reached one o'clock in the morning, she stood up and yawned.

"I should get home," she told me.

"I think you should stay here. I've drank too much to drive you home, it's too late for you to walk and you don't have your car," I said, though it was really just an excuse for her to not leave.

"I could get a taxi?" She suggested.

"It's too late," I moaned.

"Are you sure this isn't just a way to get me to spent the night here?" Bella asked suspiciously.

"Maybe," I hinted.

"Fine," she agreed, making me grin. We went upstairs to my bedroom and she laid next to me on my bed, not even changing into pajamas but instead we wrapped ourselves up in covers and I pulled Bella closer to me.

"You deserve that job," she whispered to me.

"Thank you," I whispered back, leaning down to kiss her.


	10. Stories

**Chapter Ten**

**Edward P.O.V **

"Are you sure you're going to be okay with this?" I asked Emmett as I parked outside his school. Crowds of kids were walking into the large building of Cleveland High School and I worried if he could really do this. His last year at Middle School hadn't gone so well, after our parents died I had to pull him out, since he refused to even leave his bedroom.

"It's fine, Edward." Emmett moaned, assuring me. I smiled at him and turned back to look at the kids walking into school and was shocked to see Bella mixed in the crowd. She looked different, in school she actually looked more like a teacher, wearing a skirt, blouse and high-heels, with her hair tied up in a messy bun. She noticed Emmett and I in the car and turned to wave and I grinned back.

"Go in with Bella, she'll show you around." I told Emmett, who nodded. He opened the car door as Bella waited for him, then I watched them both walk into school together. It was hard to watch him leave, I hoped nothing bad would happen but I knew that it would be okay since Bella was there for him.

I went home to find most of the house still packed away in boxes, I hadn't had time to finish things off yesterday, since Emmett and I spent most of the day out with Bella. Emmett's room was unpacked, as well as mine, my office and the bathrooms. All I had to finish off today was the kitchen, den and living room.

I started with the living room, which Emmett and I preferred to call a sitting area, since it really only had a fire-place, and a couple of couches surrounding a large coffee table. The den was more of a games room, with our large flat screen tv, more couches and some game chairs, with an Xbox, Wii and PS3. I think that was Emmett's favorite room in the house.

The kitchen seemed to be Bella's favorite, it was huge and modern, with a black and white color theme to it. I don't know why we had such a grand kitchen when I couldn't cook, but Bella was slowly helping me learn, when we didn't get distracted by food fights. The back yard was my favorite, since it had a large porch with a couple of seats, so that we had a good view of our large yard and the woods behind our house.

When I was finally finished with everything else that needed to be done, I went to meet Jeff for one last time. I would be officially selling my apartment today, meaning that I would be getting another large cash sum. I wasn't sure what to do with all the money, most of it paid for the bills but now that I was going to be working as a doctor, I didn't really need my parents' money anymore.

I set up another bank account for Emmett, putting almost all of our parents' money in that, along with the money I would be getting for the apartment. I hoped that he would use it for college, or his own house in the future, maybe even his first car? But I wasn't sure, in the end it was his money after all, half of everything our parents left us was his.

"It's been a pleasure working with you, Mr Cullen." Jeff told me once I had signed everything I had to and gave back my keys.

"For me too. Thank you for everything, Jeff."

"You're welcome, Edward. Good luck with everything," he replied as I walked out of the real estate agents. It was almost time to go and get Emmett, so after stopping for a coffee in a nearby café, I parked outside his school to wait for him. The bell rang and a huge crowd of kids were running out, looking happy to get home. Emmett was one of the last to exit the school, though he was walking next to Bella.

They both noticed me and Bella waved again, smiling at me as she walked over to her car. I grinned back and Emmett got into my car, looking unusually happy.

"How was it?" I asked him.

"Good," he shrugged, making me suspicious.

"What are you not telling me?"

"Guess who's my English teacher?" He asked back, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Bella," I laughed.

"Oh no, it's Miss Swan in school." Emmett replied, making me chuckle at his sarcasm.

When Emmett told me this, my first reaction was to be happy but when I really thought about what this meant, I began to worry. This meant that Bella was dating one of her student's legal guardian, was that even allowed? And how would this effect Emmett? Sure, I loved the thought of Bella being able to help him in class and stuff, but what if something happened between Bella and I and she took it out on him for the next year?

Or, maybe I was just overreacting?

Around an hour after Emmett and I got home, I heard a knock at my door and opened to find Bella, who was really just who I needed to calm me down.

"What's wrong?" She asked me as soon as I answered the door. While Emmett was in his room, I ushered Bella into mine so that I could speak to her.

"Emmett told me about you being his teacher," I explained.

"Yeah?"

"Will this not get you into trouble?" I asked her and Bella looked torn.

"Not really, it's not illegal," she answered. "I might be looked down on by some teachers, they might think that I'm favoring Emmett in class or something, but how are they going to find out that we're dating anyway?"

"That's true. I just don't want you to get in trouble because of us."

"It's sweet of you to worry about me, but it will be fine." Bella assured me, reaching up to kiss me. I leaned down to meet her and moaned when our lips began to move in sync. I had missed her today, which was strange, since I saw her almost everyday but this time was different. Bella's hands, reached into my hair and she trailed them around my head, pulling at the ends of my hair.

Bella and I hadn't gotten any further than our heated make-out sessions in my room, even when she stayed over the other night, we had stayed in our clothes and only slept together, nothing else. I was glad for that, I wasn't ready to jump straight into bed with Bella, especially since I had only had sex with one girl in my entire life and that experience didn't go very well.

I thought about Bella past boyfriends and wondered which one she would have had sex with, until I realized how horrible those thoughts were and how jealous they made me. I mean, I didn't care about her past boyfriends but I didn't exactly want to think of them with her. I thought that was true until I asked her later on that night.

"How many boyfriends have you had?" I asked as we laid in my bed, after having dinner and watching a movie, Emmett was in his bed down the hall so we had to be quiet. I almost hit myself immediately after I asked that. I mean Bella wasn't even my girlfriend yet, we were only dating and I just demanded that question out of her.

"One," she answered.

"Really?" I asked in surprise. I really didn't expect that.

"Yes, why? How many girlfriends have you had?"

"Two, though one was in eighth grade so I wouldn't really count that," I explained, making Bella giggle.

"What was his name?" I asked her, curious to hear more.

"Jacob, we dated for about a year."

"What happened between you both?"

Bella looked upset and she turned away from me, shocking me. "Sorry, you don't have to answer that." I whispered.

"No, it's fine. It's just embarrassing," she explained, looking back at me as she blushed.

"I won't judge," I promised.

"He used to be my best friend and when I turned seventeen, we started dating. By the time I was eighteen we had sex and he thought he loved me, but I rejected him and couldn't say it back. Jacob was so certain that he wanted to stay in Forks and live there for the rest of his life and I didn't want that. I left for college a week later and told him I wanted to be friends, but he's never spoke to me since."

I couldn't help the jealousy I felt towards this Jacob. I wondered if he was better looking than me, probably stronger too and a lot more emotionally stable. I believed that part about Bella rejecting him, not that I was saying she did it deliberately because she wouldn't have, but I knew that she had probably broke a few other boys heart's without realizing.

"Well, my story is worse," I laughed, trying to cheer her up.

"How? What happened with your girlfriend?" She asked.

"Her name was Tanya and I met her in college. I dated her for about a month and one night, Jasper and I got drunk at a bar when she was there. We ended up going home and I slept with her, though I was barely conscious and I can't remember it. It must have been a horrible night for her too because when I woke up in the morning, she was covered in my sick and broke up with me that same day," I explained, blushing a bright red.

"Oh my god," Bella whispered, giggling silently.

"Hey, no laughing!" I said, getting embarrassed but I was chucking too.

I hoped story time was over now.


	11. Admire

**Chapter Eleven **

**Bella P.O.V **

I woke up to the dreaded sound of my alarm clock. It was horribly annoying and I groaned as I reached up to hit it, smacking it off my bedside table. I sighed and opened my eyes unwillingly, to be blinded by the bright sunlight that flashed through my window. I showered and got dressed in my usual work clothes, before grabbing a cereal bar to take with me as I drove to school.

I prayed that this day would go fast, it was only Wednesday, but I was already bored with going to work, I missed summer and so did most of the kids. I remembered that today was Edward's first day at work, so when I saw him drop Emmett off outside school, I ran over to his car and opened the passenger door, making Edward jump in surprise.

"Hey," I giggled, leaning forward to kiss him.

"Hi," he replied, deepening the kiss. I was aware that his brother was waiting for me and probably watching us along with the rest of the school kids, so I stopped and pulled back from him, grinning like a fool. I didn't care if students and teachers were looking at us, they couldn't do anything. What Edward and I were was not illegal.

"I just came to say good luck today," I explained.

"Thank you but you better go, people are staring," Edward whispered, blushing bright red as he looked around. I laughed and said goodbye to him, before getting out of the car and walking up to Emmett, who was sitting at the steps of the school, waiting for me. I had asked other teachers how Emmett was doing in class considering his circumstances and every one of them told me the same thing; he was quiet.

"What's your first class?" I asked Emmett as I walked him to his home room.

"Biology," he answered. "And I know where it is. I'll be okay."

I promised to see him in English, which I had with him in fourth period and went to prepare for my first class. I had sophomores first and second period, where we would be studying for a quiz on Animal Farm, which they weren't very happy with. I had seniors third and by the time Emmett's class arrived, I was relieved since it meant it was almost lunch.

"Okay, freshman." I called, getting their attention and stopping them from speaking. "You will continue with your report on someone who you admire," I explained, leaving them to do it. I watched Emmett as he spoke to Rosalie Hale, who was really a blonde hair, blue-eyed beauty and they seemed to get on. I was glad I sat them both together.

When the period was finished, the class gave me their books so that I could mark their reports. Rosalie's was on mother, who was a model - no surprise there - and most of the other kids was either on their parents or celebrities. I didn't know what to expect when I opened Emmett's book, I thought that maybe he would write about his mom or dad.

_The person I admire most in my life is my brother, Edward. _

I paused in shock and continued to read, as I read that Edward helped Emmett the most through the hard things they had to cope with. He wrote about when he didn't want to really get up some days, though Edward had cheered him up and convinced him to. I began to cry as I read the end, about how Edward had everything he wanted in his life and Emmett hoped that it could be him some day.

I sniffed as I read the last sentence and wondered why this had upset me so much. Somehow Edward and Emmett had wriggled their way into my life, whether I liked it or not and made me care for both much more than I ever would have expected. Edward was perfect, inside and out and Emmett was just so sweet, you couldn't help but love him with his rosy cheeks, curly hair and bright blue eyes.

I jumped as my phone rang and I hurried to answer it.

"Hello?" I asked, sounding upset from Emmett's report.

"Hey, are you okay?" Edward asked on the other line.

"Yes, I just read something and it made me a little upset."

"Have you got your nose shoved in one of your many books?" Edward joked.

"No, I'll show you it tonight. Anyway, how's your first day?"

"It's going great, Bella." He answered, sounding happy. "I love it here."

"I'm glad," I whispered.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Edward asked again.

"Yes," I replied just as the bell rang. "I've got to go, that's lunch over. I'll see you tonight?" I asked.

"Of course. Goodbye, Bella."

"Bye, Edward." I said, hanging up.

I couldn't focus the rest of the day, my mind kept wandering back to Emmett and Edward. When school finished, I was more than glad. Instead of going home first, I went straight to Edward's still dressed in my work clothes and carrying Emmett's book. I knocked on the door and Edward looked shocked to see me.

"You're early but I'm glad. Come in," he gestured, walking into the kitchen with me. I placed Emmett's book on the dining room table and pushed it over to Edward, who looked confused to see it. Emmett was in the den, playing video games so I knew that we had time to talk. "What's this?" Edward asked.

"Read it," I ordered. I watched as Edward opened the first page and read the report, he looked shocked to see his name and as he read more, the closer I looked then the more I could see he was close to tears. "Oh, Edward." I said, pulling him into a hug. He hid his face in my neck, probably so I couldn't see him so upset.

"I didn't know he thought of me that way," Edward whispered, looking over in the direction of the den, where Emmett was.

"Why? Everything he wrote in there is true," I replied.

"Thanks," he blushed. "Is this what you were upset over earlier?"

I nodded.

"Good, I was worried that it was something much worse."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I don't know. I was just worried," Edward shrugged.

"You don't have to be," I whispered, pulling him in for another hug.


	12. Birthday

**Chapter Twelve **

**Edward P.O.V**

"Edward, where are you taking me?" Bella asked as I drove. Tonight was Bella's birthday - September 13th. We had been dating for around a month and I now classed her as my girlfriend since dating didn't sound important enough. She spent almost everyday with Emmett and I, and often stayed at weekends - but nothing had happened between us, even though she did sleep in the same bed as me.

"We're going out for dinner," I admitted, parking in front of a restaurant. We ate dinner together and Bella didn't seem suspicious of my plan - I had actually organised a surprise party for her at my house - and while she and I were here, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Angela and Ben were arranging the house, hiding the guests for when we got home.

"That was great, thank you." Bella said as she finished her desert.

"I got you a present," I told her, taking out the long box that held the gold heart necklace. Bella opened it and gasped, I knew she would like it, especially since Alice helped me choose it, but I was the one that saw it first. I helped Bella put it on her neck and it went well with her dress.

"Edward, thank you so much."

"You're welcome," I said, leaning down to kiss her.

I drove home and as I pulled up outside my house I smiled - all the lights were out and everything looked just like we left it - I was sure that Bella didn't suspect anything. I held Bella's hand as we walked to door and paused before I opened it, making her look at me in confusion. I swung open the door and grinned, just as the lights turned on and everyone jumped out from their hiding spots.

"Happy Birthday!" They called in unison, making Bella gasp. Emmett, Alice and Jasper were at the front of the group, waiting on Bella to walk in - who was frozen in shock. I continued to hold her hand as we walked into the house but had to let go as Alice pulled her into a hug and I watched them as they spoke.

"Who's idea was this?" Bella asked her, still looking shocked.

"Edward and Emmett's," Alice replied and Bella turned to me, as I stood next to Emmett, who was holding his own present for her. Bella walked forward and pulled Emmett into a hug first, glancing down at his present that he had wrapped terribly.

"You got me a present?" Bella asked and Emmett nodded, handing it to her and took it off him, looking curious as she opened it. She laughed loudly when she saw it, pulling Emmett into a hug and thanking him. It was a coffee cup saying 'Best Teacher' which made me laugh too - it was a good idea from him. Bella pulled me into a hug next and kissed me quickly - since we were in front of everyone - and thanked me.

Alice put on some music as people walked into the kitchen, going to get some food. Bella opened the rest of her presents and greeted everyone, thanking them for coming. Alice had spoken to Bella's parents before her birthday and they couldn't make it, though they had sent her presents and promised to phone after the party. I was thankful that Alice phoned, since I wasn't sure if Bella's parents even knew about me.

I danced with Bella for a few songs, while I thought about the last time we danced - when we weren't even a couple. I couldn't imagine that now - when she wasn't in my life - Emmett and I were so used to her, she was like a part of our life too now. She helped us both through a lot, it would seem strange to not have her. A slow song came on and I continued to dance with Bella, even though dancing made me feel awkward, but not with her.

"What are you thinking about?" Bella asked.

"You," I admitted.

"What about me?"

"Just how I've grown to care about you so much."

"I feel the same. You and Emmett mean a lot to me," Bella smiled, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Really?" I asked, shocked to hear that we had both made an impact on her - even Emmett. I felt Bella nod from beneath my neck, making me smile. I talked with Jasper a lot of the night, while Bella and Alice were together. I was drinking a beer with him while I watched Bella dance with Alice and Emmett - who looked like he was having fun.

"You and Bella look...close," Jasper said.

"Yeah?" I asked, still watching them.

"You're not even listening to me, are you?" Jasper asked and I paused, before realizing what he said.

"Yes and we are close. Why?"

"I mean, do you love her?" His question made me freeze and I stopped to think about it. Did I love Bella Swan? I mean sure, I missed her every minute when I wasn't with her, she's become the center of my life along with Emmett, every time I saw her again was like the first time and yes, I did see a future with her. Was that love? I had never had such strong feelings before, so I didn't know.

"I don't know," I admitted, walking away to get another beer. A few hours later and after a couple of more beers, I found myself sitting on the porch steps in our back garden, looking out into the woods. I jumped as someone wrapped their arms around my shoulders and relaxed once I realized it was Bella, who was kissing my neck as her lips trailed up to my ear.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Nothing was actually wrong, I just got away for some fresh air and to think about what Jasper asked. To be honest, I was scared about my answer - I mean, it had only been a month since Bella and I started dating and if I did really love her, then what did that mean?

"Nothing," I answered. Bella shrugged as she sat next to me and I glanced at her, staring into her chocolate-brown eyes. How had this girl done this to me? She made everything better just with one of her smiles and she even made my little brother love her, who was someone who was hard to please. She was perfect and everything that I had always imagined.

"Let's get back," Bella said, pulling my hand as she stood up, making me follow her back into the living room. Everyone was beginning to leave due to how late it was and I was confused as Emmett put on his jacket and grabbed his bag. Jasper winked at me as he leaned closer to whisper in my ear.

"Another present," he said.

"Emmett's going to stay with us tonight," Alice explained to Bella.

"Okay," she answered.

I said goodbye to everyone and Bella began to clean up the mess, making me sigh. I glanced over at the clock, it was way to late for us to be awake, especially since we had both gotten up early this morning. I pulled Bella away from the mess in the living room and dragged her upstairs, even though she tried to get back to cleaning.

"Edward, what are you doing?" She giggled as I opened the door to my bedroom.

"Bella, it's your birthday."

"So? This is your house, I'm going to clean the mess I made."

"No, you're not." I argued, taking off my shirt.

"What are you doing?" Bella asked.

"Putting on my pajamas," I explained, chuckling as she looked away from me. While Bella went to change into her pajamas in the bathroom, I dressed in my plain blue bottoms and a white t-shirt and watched some tv. I was shocked when Bella came back into the room, dressed in some shorts and a tank top, was she trying to kill me?

I turned off the tv and climbed into bed with her, flinching as her freezing feet mixed in with mine.

"You're freezing," I shivered.

"And you're roasting," Bella giggled. I was so tired that I closed my eyes, shuffling down so that my head now rested in the space between her face and neck. She smelled amazing and I took a deep breath, loving the scent of her.

"I love you," I said, without thinking. Bella froze beneath me, just as I realized what I had said. I could have killed myself in the moment, as my heart dropped and started beating uncontrollably, making me breathing come out in large gasps. Bella stayed frozen, until her hand eventually moved, reaching up to trail her fingers in my hair.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

Did I hear that right? I glanced up and grinned at her, not believing what I just heard. Bella Swan loved me?! The perfect girl for me loved me back.

"What?" Bella asked, blushing as I stared at her. I didn't reply but instead kissed her, moaning as my tongue entered her mouth and her fingers found their way into my hair. I trailed my hand up her leg and she giggled as it tickled her, making me laugh. My lips connected back with her's and before I knew it, my shirt was off and her hands were trailing down my chest.

"Edward," Bella moaned as my kisses moved down to her neck. Was this happening? Had I dreamed this entire night, or were we really close to doing this? Was I ready? I guessed I was, Bella loved me, I loved her, what was stopping us? I pushed up Bella's tank top with my hands and she gasped, making me pause. She didn't push me away or anything, so was she okay?

"Are we going to do this?" I asked her as I glanced up. Bella's face was flushed and her hands were still resting on my chest, though she didn't look upset or pushed too far.

"I want to," she admitted.

That was all I wanted to hear.

* * *

I woke up during the night, it was still dark outside and something wasn't right. I glanced around to see that Bella wasn't in my arms and my bedroom door was opened. I looked down to see that I was still naked after falling asleep when we had finished... I trailed off with that thought, grinning as I remembered what happened.

I stood up and put my boxers on, going down stairs to find Bella. I could hear her in the kitchen and I paused in the living room as I heard her speaking to someone on the phone. I knew it was wrong to eavesdrop on her, but I couldn't help it - I was curious and I didn't want to interrupt her.

"Thanks, dad. I loved the new camera you got me," she said. I couldn't hear her dad reply, but I was curious when she spoke again.

"I'm actually at Edward's house." Bella said, before her dad replied. Did this mean he knew about me?

"Yes, dad." She moaned. "Of course I love him."

Was she talking about me?

"I do. Take care, night dad!" She hung up.

I panicked as I heard her words, wondering if I should admit to listening to her. I walked in the kitchen just as Bella turned around and she jumped, screaming in shock at seeing me. I laughed and walked forward, pulling her into a hug. I was aware that she was only dressed in my t-shirt and her underwear and that did things to me.

"It's just me," I assured her.

"Did you hear that?" Bella asked me, meaning her conversation.

"Yes," I admitted. Bella walked upstairs with me and we both climbed back into bed together, holding each other close to get warm. Bella's hands trailed up and down my chest again, and I smiled in pleasure. My lips went to her neck, as I bit and suck at it, making her moan. Sometime later, we eventually fell asleep.


	13. Aftermath

**Chapter Thirteen **

**Bella P.O.V **

I woke up alone. I glanced around Edward's room, wondering where he was. I remembered him getting up early and kissing my back, but I didn't reply to him and barely managed a moan since I was so tired. I found a note on his pillow and unfolded it to read what he was wrote - smiling as I read how cute it was.

_Bella, _

_I've gone to pick up Emmett, I hope you don't wake up while I'm gone. _

_But...if you do, I'll be back soon. _

_I love you, _

_Edward. _

I decided to take a shower since I knew that Edward wouldn't mind and after last night's 'activities' with him, I was in desperate need of one. I relaxed as soon as the hot water ran down my body, remembering last night's events. Edward admitted that he loved me, which was a huge surprise, though I knew I felt the same and we made love. It was crazy - though amazing.

I got out of the shower, going over to Edward's large bathroom mirror to inspect the damage of last night. My hair was a mess, my lips were all swollen, my face just showed guilt and my neck - what had Edward done to me? I was covered in huge marks, they looked like bruises and I realized in horror that they were hickeys!

I was going to kill him. I didn't have anything to cover the marks, the clothes I had brought for today was a shirt and that definitely showed off my neck, which would mean Emmett would see them and realize what happened between us. I searched around Edward's room in a hurry, finding a large sweatshirt of his that would fit me and not look too bad - at least it would cover the mess he made.

I heard the front door open, before Emmett's voice echoed through the house. I walked downstairs to find him and Edward in the kitchen, making food. I had taught Edward to cook well, he was now successful at cooking breakfast and if he was lucky, sometimes lunch. He was making bacon, eggs, sausages and toast, and my stomach growled.

"Hey, Bella!" Emmett said, shoving a large piece of toast into his mouth. I laughed and sat next to him at the table, watching him as he played a game on his PSP. Edward walked over to me and kissed my head, greeting me and raising his eyebrow when he noticed that I had his sweatshirt on.

"I forgot mine," I lied in front of Emmett, though I would tell Edward the truth later. I ate my breakfast in a rush, so hungry that I probably ate more than Edward - it must have been from all the 'activities' last night - and washed it all down with a glass of orange juice, while Emmett and Edward stared at me.

"Hungry?" Emmett asked, making me blush.

"Yeah," I nodded.

Emmett went up to his room once he was finished eating and while I helped Edward clean up from last night, I took my chance to show him the hickeys from last night. I hit him over the head with a near-by towel - though in a joking way, of course - and he moaned, turning to me in shock as he realized what I had done.

"Look what you did!" I whispered, pulling down his sweatshirt so that he could see my neck.

"I saw them this morning," Edward grinned, making me angry.

"Why are you finding this amusing?" I asked.

"I don't," he replied. "I'm just happy that I did that and not anyone else. It kind of marks you as mine."

Although it was sweet of him to put it like that - and trust me, he seemed to get out of situations like this all the time, probably since he knew how to charm me - but this was too far and before I could reply, my phone rang in my pocket, distracting me from what I was about to say to him.

"Hello?" I answered, after realizing it was Alice.

"Hey, I'm just about to come pick you up. You ready?" She asked. I was confused before I remembered that I had agreed to go shopping last night with her. Shit! Why did having sex with Edward literally make me a scatter brain and forget everything? Not to mention the visible marks on my body from what we had done...

"Yeah, I'll see you soon." I said, hanging up. Edward glanced at me after I answered.

"I forgot that I agreed to go shopping today with Alice," I explained.

"Oh," Edward sighed, looking upset. My heart sank for him - making me forget all about why I was angry at him - since I knew that he was probably looking forward to spending the day with me. "Will you stay again tonight?" He asked, making me think of what could go on again in his bedroom, but I shook that thought away when I remembered that Emmett would be here.

"Sure," I agreed. Honestly, I barely spent anytime in my apartment. I was basically renting the place out to sleep there on work nights - when I didn't usually stay over here - but I didn't mind. I couldn't stand to be away from Edward and Emmett. I heard Alice beep outside and I walked over to the door as Edward followed me.

"Tell Emmett I said bye," I told him, knowing that I didn't have enough time to go upstairs and tell him myself.

"I will," Edward promised, bending down to kiss me. It was short and sweet, but it was still one of his amazing kisses, that gave me butterflies.

"I'll see you tonight," I said.

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you too," I replied, grinning as I kissed him one last time and opened the door, walking down the pathway to get into Alice's car. I waved to Edward as she drove away, leaving his street. The last glance I saw was him at his door, waving to me as we left.

"Hey," I said to Alice, realizing that I hadn't greeted her yet.

"Hi," she grinned happily, looking over at me. "What happened to you?!" She asked, looking down at my neck. Shit! The sweatshirt that I borrowed off Edward wasn't covering some of the hickeys that he had marked me with. Alice reached forward and pushed the sweatshirt down more, gasping as she saw all of them.

"Edward and I..." I trailed off, blushing as I didn't want to say it.

"Had sex? I guessed so. Your hair's a mess, you don't look like you've slept all night and you even smell like sex," Alice answered, turning her nose up.

"I had a shower!" I defended, realizing that she was right.

"Hmm...did he try to eat you last night?" She asked.

"No," I laughed. "More like suck my blood."

Alice pulled up in front of the mall, grinning at me evilly - which wasn't a good sign. The last time Alice gave me that look was when we were eighteen and she took me to a shop to buy my first pair of thongs. It was horrendous and I left the shop looking like a tomato for the rest of the day. It was one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life.

"You know what this means?" Alice asked and I shook my head, fearing her reply. "We're going to Victoria Secret."

Victoria Secret was much worse than I had ever imagined. Alice made me buy a couple of skimpy new lingerie sets - one blue, one black - new pajamas, new underwear and even some new shoes. I blushed the most when she bought some for herself, asking me if she thought that Jasper would like them. First - I didn't want to know what Jasper liked in the bedroom and second - I didn't want the horrible mental image that came with it!

Once we were done in Victoria Secret and had browsed some other shops, Alice and I went to have some coffee from Starbucks.

"How's Edward in bed?" Alice asked suddenly, making me choke on my coffee. How could she ask that so calmly, even when there was kids around us? I didn't know, but I blushed right away as I thought of my answer. Edward was amazing in bed, just like he was at everything else he did - except from cooking obviously.

"That good, huh?" Alice asked, making me confused. "You're smirking," she explained.

"Why would even ask me that? I don't ask about Jasper," I answered.

"Well, he's great in bed. Sometimes he even - "

"Alice, stop!" I moaned, covering my ears.

"Don't be such a prude," she laughed, luckily dropping the subject.

We left the mall then and I itched to see Edward again and yes, that included to make love to him again, though I was disappointed when I knew that we probably couldn't. I mean, would Edward want to have sex with Emmett in the house? Would Emmett even hear us? I didn't know, but I thought about asking someone first.

"Do you think Edward will want to have sex with Emmett in the house?" I asked Alice.

"Look who's not being a prude anymore," she smirked.

"Answer the question," I sighed.

"Bella, he's a man. Of course he will."


	14. Bad Dream

**Chapter Fourteen **

**Edward P.O.V**

"Hey, has Bella left?" Emmett asked as he watched me close the front door, taking my last glance at Bella and Alice driving away. I nodded at him and he followed me into the kitchen, where I began to tidy the mess from Bella's birthday party last night. Food was scattered over the dining room table and floor, along with beer cans and alcohol bottles. I put them all in the trash as Emmett continued to watch me.

"Bella went shopping with Alice," I explained.

"I see," Emmett nodded in return. "Is she okay?"

I wondered why he was asking that, what had made him think she wasn't? Or was he right, was there something wrong with Bella?

"I think so..." I trailed off, raising my eyebrow at him.

"It's just - I noticed the bruises."

"The what?" I asked, wondering if I had heard him right.

"The bruises," Emmett whispered, pointing to his neck.

It dawned on me then what he was talking about. He thought the hickeys that I had marked Bella with last night were bruises and he worried about her. Although it was terribly embarrassing that he had noticed, I noted that he genuinely looked concerned for her - it was sweet. My face flushed bright red, thinking about how my brother had noticed the hickeys.

"Oh," I coughed, trying to hide how squeaky my voice had become. "I'm sure she just tripped."

"That sounds like Bella," Emmett laughed, making me smile as he believed what I said.

I was relieved when Emmett went back upstairs, leaving me to cool back down. My paranoia and embarrassment was off the scale and my face began to lighten back to its usual color. I thought back to last night, making me grin as I remembered the feeling of Bella beneath me - it was better than I had ever dreamed of and I missed her even more, making me sigh.

"Hello?" I heard someone call as the front door opened. I sat up and walked through into the living room, finding Jasper standing in the middle of the room with a pack of beer, some chips and dips. "Edward," he grinned, throwing me the chips. I caught them before they could hit the ground, placing them on the table.

"I wasn't expecting you here," I laughed, leading him into the den.

"I thought since the girls went shopping and I'm off work that we could hang out," he explained, passing me a beer. I thanked him and opened it, taking a large gulp and swallowing - it was as great as ever. I switched on the tv and Xbox, handing Jasper one of the controllers that we had - beginning a game of cod.

"Last night was great..." I trailed of, making conversation.

"Yeah, since you and Bella finally had sex?" Jasper asked, making my eyes widen.

"How do you know?"

"Bella told Alice, who told me - you know."

"What did she say?" I wondered.

"I don't know," Jasper shrugged, laughing slightly.

There wasn't much conversation after that, Jasper let the subject drop, thankfully and only really talked about his stag night before the wedding. We joked about taking Ben to a strip club, though I knew that we wouldn't - Jasper, Ben and I were all in relationships now, we had no need to go there and before Bella came into my life, I still wouldn't have went.

"Jasper!" Emmett called, walking into the den. He sat in between us and grabbed a controller, joining in on cod with us. It was embarrassing to admit that my fourteen year old brother was much better at video games than me, but these days they were just to hard for me to get the hang of and Emmett was a complete genius at it, though Jasper kept up with him.

"Hello?" Bella called, walking into the house with Alice. They both came into the den and grinned when they noticed me chasing after Emmett since he had called me a 'old man' at video games. I grabbed Emmett's t-shirt and pulled him back, pushing him onto the floor. It was like old times as we wrestled and I eventually pulled him into a head lock.

"Bella! Help!" Emmett screamed as Jasper began helping me. Bella ran forward and jumped onto my back, making me lose balance and fall onto the ground, while she struggled to get off me. I watched as her and Emmett ran away, disappearing into the living room. Jasper and Alice embraced, ignoring the war going on in our house.

"Is that Victoria Secret?" Jasper asked her, touching the purple bag in her hand.

"Yes," Alice nodded, turning to me. "Bella's got three bags from there," she winked, making me almost drool.

The image of Bella in Victoria Secret sexy lingerie was literally torture. I couldn't focus on the amazing meal that Alice and Bella made us boys because I couldn't stop staring at the multiple bags laying on the couch, three of them from Victoria Secret. Even when Emmett tried to explain to me about his homework, I still couldn't concentrate - my mind was like mushy peas.

Alice and Jasper left after we ate dinner and I was sure that Jasper noticed what was wrong with me because when he left, he patted my back, winked at me and whispered in my ear 'have fun'. Now that was embarrassing and it made it much worse that Bella and Alice saw, probably even Emmett too but I was sure that he wouldn't realize what he meant.

"Are you alright? You've acted strange ever since I came home," Bella said to me as we crawled into bed together. I pulled her close to me and sighed, feeling the fabric of her new Victoria Secret pajamas. I was in heaven, they looked amazing on her and I couldn't get my words out properly as I answered.

"It's just...Alice mentioned something about you both going to Victoria Secret. I've been distracted," I admitted.

"Oh," Bella giggled. "Do you like them?"

"I love them," I whispered, placing my lips on her neck.

"No," she refused, pushing me away. "No more hickeys."

I laughed, relieved that she wasn't actually refusing me. "Okay, no more. I swear."

I went back to kissing her neck, trailing my hands up her torso and along her back. She moaned and twisted, making me shush her as I worried about Emmett down the hallway - I was sure he would be asleep though, he had been woken up early by Alice and Jasper this morning. My lips trailed lower down Bella's body and I didn't stop when I had reached her hipbone.

"Edward!" She gasped.

* * *

I walked forward, after the long dark road that led to a crossing. There was no cars, not even any houses and I couldn't hear anything. I wondered where I was, how had Ii got here? My eyes widened as a light began to get closer to the crossing, just as a much brighter one did at the same time. It all went very fast then.

The brighter light got much closer as I realized they were both vehicles, and the smaller car was about to be hit. A large bang echoed through the street as the larger car crashed into the other one - the one I recognized. My legs shook as I walked forward, rushing to the car that was hit, which was smashed into a near-bye wall.

I also recognized the driver. His blonde hair was now red from the blood dripping down his face, as he moaned and tried to help the female passenger. He struggled to move, while I watched him suffer. I couldn't help him, though he turned suddenly and stared at me. His breathing hitched as he tried to say something.

"Edward," my father whispered in pain. "Help us."

"Edward!" Another voice called, pulling me out of my dream. My eyes opened as I noticed Bella towering over me, shaking me violently. I couldn't help the tears that pooled in my eyes and fell down my face. I didn't care if Bella was there and that it would be embarrassing - that dream was too real and I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Bella," I sobbed, laying my head on her shoulder.

"Shh, Edward. Everything is okay," she whispered back, trailing her hand into my hair. After a while, I calmed down and eventually stopped crying, realizing how stupid I had been. I laid my head on Bella's chest and listened to her heart beat, it was calming as I stared at the clock. It was late, almost three in the morning - far too late for us to be awake.

"I'm sorry," I apologized.

"What are you sorry for?" Bella demanded.

"For breaking down like that."

"Edward, I don't care what's wrong with you or how upset you are. Talk to me when you want to."

"Okay," I agreed. "I just had a dream about the night my parents passed away."

"I know," Bella whispered.

"You do?"

"Yes," she nodded. "You kept saying 'dad' in your dream."

"Oh," I whispered.

"Everything is okay. I love you," Bella kissed my cheek.

"I love you too."


	15. Fight

**Chapter Fifteen **

**Edward P.O.V **

"Halloween is next week, would you like to go somewhere?" I asked Bella and Emmett as we ate breakfast. I didn't really want to go out but I didn't want to stay in either, I actually liked Halloween, it was one of my favorite nights of the year. I thought about staying in and watching a movie with them, but that would be too boring. I wondered what Alice and Jasper would be doing.

"Alice is having a party, as usual. We could go there?" Bella suggested.

"Sure," I agreed. "That okay, Emmett?" I asked, wondering why he looked so guilty, he was also blushing.

"I actually have a date that night," he whispered.

"What?" I asked in shock, Emmett had a date? "With who? And where?"

"Rosalie Hale, I was planning on watching a movie with her here."

"But we'll be out?"

Bella giggled at my stupid question and I realized as Emmett blushed that he wanted to be left alone with the girl. I wondered what my parents would say if they were here, would they let him? I mean, he is fourteen and well aware of how he should behave around a girl, I was sure that he would be appropriate around her.

"Sure, fine then." I agreed, finishing my coffee. Emmett thanked me and went upstairs to get his school bag, while Bella helped me clear away the mess from breakfast. Bella stayed almost every night now, she only went to her apartment to get clean clothes or collect her mail. She basically lived here and I loved it, she also took Emmett to school too.

"Are you okay about Emmett and Rosalie?" Bella asked as she wrapped her arms around my waist. Her lips trailed along my neck and I moaned in pleasure, she was trying to distract me, I guessed I looked tense to her.

"I guess," I whispered. "We'll be home when the movie finishes, I'm sure it will be okay."

"You're right. She's a good kid."

"You know her?" I asked, turning around to look at her.

"Yes," Bella nodded. "She's in Emmett's English class, they sit together."

"Oh," I realized.

"Don't worry."

"I'm not, I just wonder if I should give him, you know? The sex talk," I whispered, blushing bright red. Bella giggled and hid her face in my neck, laughing quietly. "What?" I asked defensively.

"I can't imagine you and Emmett having the sex talk," she explained, shaking her head.

"What about you then?" I suggested.

"Edward, no!"

"Please?" I asked, pouting my lip.

"No, didn't your parents give Emmett the talk?" Bella asked.

"They didn't, but I'm sure he knows what sex is."

Bella didn't have a chance to reply as Emmett walked into the kitchen, waiting for Bella to leave for school with him. I walked them both to the car, grabbing my keys and bag for work too.

"I'll see you when you get home," I told Bella as she got in the car.

"I love you," she whispered back.

"I love you too," I replied, bending down to kiss her.

Bella and Emmett drove away and I got into my car quickly, driving in a rush as I realized I was running late. The hospital was so busy when I arrived that I was sent to work straight away, to help some of the patients in ER. I attended to a woman who had a minor concussion and helped an old man who had fallen in his home.

By lunch time, I was exhausted. I didn't bother to get any lunch, though I did get a drink since I was so thirsty. My phone rang and some of the other doctors at the table turned to look at me, before I excused myself and went to one of the empty patient rooms, where it was more quiet and private.

"Hello?" I asked after not recognizing the number.

"Hi, this is Mr Hoffman. I'm phoning to speak with Mr Cullen." I remembered the name; it was Emmett's head teacher. What had happened?

"This is he," I answered.

"Hello, Mr Cullen. Your brother, Emmett has gotten himself into some trouble at school. Could you come down here?" Mr Hoffman asked.

"Sure, what kind of trouble?" I wondered. Oh no, what had happened?

"I'll explain when you get here, Mr Cullen. See you soon."

I asked my boss if I could leave work early and luckily, she agreed. I drove to Emmett's school in a rush, worrying about what trouble he had gotten himself into. I entered the office and explained who I was to one of the teachers there, who then showed me to Mr Hoffman's room. I was shocked to see Emmett sitting in a chair outside the room and when he saw me, he panicked.

"Edward, I'm so sorry!" He apologized.

"Emmett, what happened?" I asked as I noticed his face, he had a bruise near his left eye, while his nose and hand were bleeding.

"I got into a fight in English."

"Bella's class?"

"Yes, she pulled me off James Hunter," he nodded.

"Why were you fighting?"

"I don't want to say," Emmett whispered, clenching his fists and looking angry. I didn't bother to ask why, I would get it out of him later.

"Where's Bella?" I asked.

"Talking to Mr Hoffman."

I looked into Mr Hoffman's office window, where Bella had her back to us. I was confused as I noticed how they were both arguing, it looked like Bella was angry. I was staring at them from the corner of my eye when Mr Hoffman noticed me, he smiled and gestured me in, making Bella look around and see me. I opened the door and walked in slowly, wondering if Emmett should come with me.

"Mr Cullen, nice to meet you." Mr Hoffman said as he shook my hand.

"You too," I said, looking at Bella as he turned around. I didn't know whether he knew about us.

"Miss Swan tells me that you both know each other," Mr Hoffman wondered.

"Yes."

"Miss Swan, could you tell Emmett to come in?" He asked her. I sat down as Bella nodded and went outside, coming back in with Emmett. He sat next to me, while Bella sat in the chair at the opposite side. Mr Hoffman sighed and took off his glasses, making himself look older. Now that his glasses were off, it brought more attention to the wrinkles around his eyes and how short he was.

"Could you tell me what happened?" I asked, getting impatient.

"Emmett refuses to tell us why he started a fight with James Hunt."

"Why?" I asked, turning to Emmett, who looked upset.

"He was being rude..."

"About what?" Mr Hoffman asked.

"Miss Swan," Emmett whispered, looking down.

I turned to Bella, who looked shocked and upset. I didn't know what to think, in one way I was disappointed in Emmett for starting a fight and in another way, I was proud since he had only done it to protect Bella. I was also angry at the James kid, I was furious that he would say anything about my Bella and I was worried that our relationship was now effecting Emmett's life.

"Oh," Mr Hoffman sighed, looking at Bella. "Miss Swan and I were debating about whether you should move class, Emmett. I understand your reasons and I will talk to James, though you still fought with him and that is unacceptable in this school. You will be suspended for a week and I have to decide now whether you should be moved class."

"Please, Mr Hoffman. Don't move me to a different class," Emmett begged.

"Miss Swan, what do you think?" He asked Bella.

"I think he should stay in my class," she muttered. "Since Emmett has been taught by me, his grades have went up and he's become more open with students. He belongs in my class." I noticed how angry Bella was, I guessed that this was why they were arguing when I arrived.

Mr Hoffman nodded and I agreed with Bella. "What about you Mr Cullen?"

"I agree with Miss Swan."

"Okay," he sighed. "Emmett you can stay in Miss Swan's class, though you will be suspended for a week and have detention for a month when you come back."

"I understand. I'm sorry, Mr Hoffman." Emmett apologized.

"And you're grounded," I whispered, making him sigh.

We were free to leave Mr Hoffman's office and since it was the end of the day, Bella came home with us too. She was quiet in the car on the way home and I worried about how upset she was about this. I also promised myself that I would talk to Emmett, he had to know that I was angry with him for starting a fight but grateful for being there for Bella.


	16. Halloween

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Bella P.O.V **

"You know, I never did ask you what James Hunter said about me," I wondered out loud, making Emmett frown. It was Halloween tonight and I was helping him set out some food for his date with Rosalie. I set out some plates and chips and made some sandwiches, while he watched and helped me get everything I need. He didn't trust himself to make them.

"Ask Edward, he knows. It's too embarrassing for me to tell you," Emmett blushed, putting away the butter and ham in the fridge.

"That bad, huh?" I asked, glad that James had been moved out of my class. His parents wanted him away from Emmett and if I was honest, I didn't want to teach him anymore. It sounded wrong for me to say but the kid gave me the creeps, especially since I now knew that he had said something really bad about me. Emmett was to return to school next week, where he would have a month of detention, though he still had a bruise on his face from James.

Once we were done with the food, Emmett went upstairs to get changed for his date, while I went to put on my Halloween costume. Edward wasn't home, he was at work for another hour so I was watching Emmett, though I didn't mind, I enjoyed spending time with him. Edward and I would be going as vampires to Alice's Halloween party.

I was wearing a simple dress with jewelry, with lighter make-up on, making me look even paler and spread fake blood down from my lips. I laughed as I looked in the mirror and went downstairs, happy with my costume. I noticed Emmett in the den and I crept up behind him, touching his shoulder and scaring him.

"Jeez, Bella!" He screamed.

"Do you like it?" I laughed, showing him my fake fangs.

"Yeah, it's cool."

"Don't you look cute," I said, noticing his smart blue shirt and jeans, he had even tried to comb down his hair. Emmett blushed at my words and looked down, so that he didn't meet my eyes. I knew that he was smiling though.

"Too much?" He asked.

"No," I shook my head. "You really like her, don't you?"

"Yes," Emmett nodded, looking eager.

I laughed and walked into the kitchen, noticing just how much effort Emmett had went to for his date. He had set out all the food in the den, along with the multiple scary movies that they planned to watch, even though Rosalie wasn't due for another couple of hours. Edward and Emmett were hopeless romantics, I realized, thinking back to my wonderful first date with Edward, it seemed so long ago.

"Hello?" I heard Edward call as he opened the front door.

"In here," I shouted back, listening as I heard his footsteps near the kitchen. He jumped when he first saw me and laughed as he realized why I was wearing the ridiculous make-up. He pulled me into his arms and laid his head on mine, making me immediately know that something was wrong with him, he was too quiet and tense.

"Bad day at work," he explained when I looked at him questionably.

"Oh, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, you look great by the way. I like the blood," Edward complimented, bending down to kiss me.

"You're going to smug it!" I said, backing away from him.

"Are you saying that I can't kiss you all night?"

"Screw it," I muttered, leaning up to kiss his lips, there was no way I could not kiss him all night. He was irresistible.

"I have to get my costume on," Edward explained after he pulled away from me.

"Okay," I pouted, watching him go upstairs. I walked out into the back porch and sat on the bench there, looking at the woods behind their house. I could hear the shower in Edward's room from here and I smiled, wishing that he would be quicker. I don't know how long I sat there but it must have been a while because I heard the door bell ring.

I looked at my watch and realized that it would be Rosalie, why wasn't Emmett answering the door?

I checked the den to see if he was there and when he wasn't, I came to the conclusion that he must have been in his room and not heard Rosalie at the door. I shrugged and opened it, making Rosalie shocked to see me. She was wearing a red dress and some sneakers, while she held a bottle of soda.

"Miss Swan?" She asked in confusion, making me remember my make-up and that she would be wondering why I'm here.

"Yeah, hey. You can just call me Bella here," I explained, gesturing her in.

"Okay..." She agreed, walking into the living room.

"Emmett, Rosalie is here!" I called to him. It didn't take long for him and Edward to come downstairs and I laughed loudly as I noticed Edward's costume; he was dressed in a long black jacket and had put on some of my light make-up, while his fake fangs popped out of his mouth a little.

"Hey," Emmett smiled, greeting Rosalie.

"Hi, I'm Edward, Emmett's big brother," Edward greeted, holding out his hand to Rosalie, who shook it in return.

"I like your costume," she giggled, speaking to Edward and I.

I thanked her and pulled Edward to the door with me, deciding that it was time for us to leave them alone. I also noticed how nervous Emmett looked.

"We'll be home in a couple of hours, remember what I said," Edward warned Emmett, who nodded at him, making me wonder what he was talking about.

"Okay, bye."

"Bye guys, have fun!" I called, closing the door. I held Edward's hand as we walked to the car, who seemed even more tense than earlier.

"Are you okay?" I asked him again.

"Yeah, I just gave Emmett the sex talk," he explained.

"Really? How did it go?"

"Surprisingly okay, he said he knew what it was, so I didn't have to go into detail."

"That's good, what's got you so nervous then?"

"He asked me if we had... you know?"

"What? What did you say?" I almost screamed, blushing bright red.

"I told him the truth."

"Why?"

"He's old enough and he didn't say much after, I'm sure he understood."

"Thank god," I whispered, relieved that he hadn't said anything. I was still embarrassed that he knew what I had done with his big brother but I was also okay with it, I knew he wouldn't say anything to me from embarrassment, which reminded me of what Emmett told me earlier.

"Emmett told me that he mentioned to you what James Hunter said about me..." I trailed off, knowing that Edward knew what I was really asking. I watched as Edward's hands clenched around the steering wheel and his jaw clicked shut, while his eyes looked furious. I noticed a small growl come from his lips as his cheeks flushed red, shocking me.

"He was talking about how your ass looked great in your skirt and how he would love to 'tap' that," he explained, making me grimace.

"That's disgusting, he's only fourteen. Why would he even say that?" I asked.

"I don't know but the kid makes me angry. I'm glad you aren't teaching him anymore or I would probably kill him," Edward hissed.

"Are you jealous of a child?" I giggled, trying to cheer him up.

"I'm not jealous," he huffed, making me realize that he really was.

"Oh, Edward," I sighed, bending over to kiss his cheek. "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too, but you're distracting me and I'm probably going to crash the car," he laughed, making me giggle and move back into my own seat.

Alice's house was just as I expected, she had decorated it great, with fake skeletons and zombies covering the front yard of her house, while there was only some lights on, making the house dark. She and Jasper were dressed as Batman and Cat-woman, while Ben and Angela were pirates. I didn't drink any alcohol or anything, since I knew Emmett was home and of course, neither did Edward since he was driving.

After a couple of hours, Edward and I left, knowing that it was too late for Rosalie and Emmett to be alone in the house. We said our goodbyes to everyone at the party and I was happy to leave, I didn't feel very well and I honestly just wanted to get home. I laid my head on the car window as we drove home, enjoying how cool it was against my head, making Edward look at me.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I don't feel well," I moaned.

"Oh, baby," he frowned, rubbing my back and making me grin, it was the first time he had ever called me that - I liked it.

Rosalie had already been picked up by her parents when we arrived home, while Emmett had fallen asleep in the den. I went upstairs to get changed quickly, feeling too unwell to wait for Edward and he took Emmett to bed. I stripped down to my underwear and climbed into the cool bed, shivering at how cold it was. By the time Edward came to bed, I was freezing.

Edward set a glass of water next to me, while he handed me some pills and felt my head.

"You're hot," he whispered to me.

"I feel freezing," I said back, making him frown. He turned into doctor mode and sat next to me, taking my temperature and making me take some of the pills he handed me. He concluded that I was burning up, meaning that it was probably just the common flu and ordered me to get some sleep. I agreed and closed my eyes as I knew he was watching me.

He undressed and got into bed, pulling me into his arms. I felt better as his hot body warmed me up and his soft hands trailed up and down my back.

"Get some sleep, baby." He whispered to me.

"You keep calling me that."

"Do you not like it?" Edward asked.

"No," I shook my head, making him frown. "I love it," I grinned.

"I love you," he laughed.

"I love you too," I said back, closing my eyes to fall asleep.

"Goodnight, baby," Edward whispered.


	17. Shopping

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Edward P.O.V**

"What do you think?" Jasper asked as he stepped out of the changing room. I looked up as Emmett gasped, noticing how happy Jasper looked. At a first glance, the tux looked simple, but as I looked again, the black stitching and hand-made patterns on it made it look a lot more expensive. I stood up and smiled, walking over to Jasper to pull him in a man hug.

"It's the one," I told him honestly, realizing just how good he looked in it. The wedding was now only a month away.

"I agree. Why don't we looked for yours now?"

I began to walk around the shop with Emmett and Ben, looking for our outfits, while Jasper got measured for his tux. I found one similar to Jasper's in grey, though it didn't look as striking as his, it was more old-fashioned and not as expensive, but I really liked it. Ben found his suit and Emmett decided on a white shirt, black dress tie and black coat.

We went into the changing rooms to try them on and I was disappointed when mine's didn't fit me very well, the shoulders were too tight on my muscles, making it hard for me to move my arms. On the plus side, it could be altered so the middle-aged man working in the shop took my measurements, I could collect it in a week. Ben and Emmett's fit, so once we had bought them, we left the small shop in the mall.

We met Bella, Alice and Angela at a local restaurant, who were also buying their dresses today. I walked into the restaurant and noticed Bella straight away, she was sitting in a booth with her back to me. I crept forward and held my finger up to my mouth when Alice and Angela noticed me, hoping that they would understand that I was going to scare her.

I shouted a little, trying to stay quiet since we were in a restaurant and grabbed Bella's shoulders, making her jump and scream a little. A few people in the room turned to stare at us, but luckily there wasn't many people here. Jasper, Emmett and Ben walked in just as I scared Bella and joined in on our laughing, while Bella looked pissed off.

"I'm sorry," I apologized when I finally stopped laughing. I kissed her cheek and slid next to her in the booth. We all fit in and began to order some dinner, which I was glad for since I was so hungry. All the walking about today and skipping breakfast this morning had really effected me. Either that, or I was just being greedy.

"You gave me a heart attack!" Bella frowned, slapping my chest lightly after we had ordered.

"I'm sorry," I apologized again, making her sigh.

"I forgive you, I can't stay mad at you for long."

"I feel like the seventh wheel here," Emmett huffed loudly, gesturing to all the adults who were wrapped up in their partners arms.

"Aw, Emmett. Would you prefer if I married you?" Alice teased, making us laugh.

"No."

"Good," Jasper laughed, kissing Alice.

"Why don't you go on another date with Rosalie then?" Bella suggested.

"I might do that..." Emmett trailed off.

Our dinner came and I started to eat my burger and chips straight away, not caring that everyone at the table was staring at me, I was too damn hungry. I moaned as I bit into my burger and Bella laughed as she wiped some sauce off my cheek. I swallowed my huge bite and thanked her, while she giggled in return.

"When was the last time you ate?" Alice asked me, looking horrified.

"Last night," I answered.

"Why didn't you eat this morning?"

I blushed bright red as I remembered my acts with Bella this morning, Emmett had stayed at his friend's house last night, his name was Seth and he played football with him for the school, and Bella and I spent most of the night and morning locked up in my bedroom. By the time we were out of my bed, it was time to pick up Emmett and meet everyone for shopping so we didn't have time to eat.

"Bella looks hungry too." Jasper whispered in Alice's ear, making her giggle as I turned to my right to see Bella shoving her pasta in her mouth so fast that I wondered how she was swallowing it - she also wasn't playing any attention to our conversation but was instead racing Emmett to see who could finish their food first. I laughed; sometimes I had two teenagers to deal with.

Once we were finished eating, we paid the bill and left the mall to drive home. We all went our separate ways - Bella, Emmett and I went home to have a movie night. We went into the den, Bella and I were cuddled together on the love seat, while Emmett was sprawled over the couch. The movie was just about to start when my phone rang, making Bella and Emmett turn to look at me.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hello, Edward. It's Phil." My boss?

"Uh, how can I help you?" I asked.

"I hate to do this," he sighed, "but one of the doctors phoned in sick, could you cover a night shift?"

I held the phone away from my ear and whispered to Bella who it was and what he wanted. She insisted that it was okay and that she could watch Emmett, they would probably just watch the movie without me. I said yes to Dr. Phil and hung up, going upstairs to put on my work uniform. I walked back downstairs and sighed as I watched Bella and Emmett laugh at the movie they were watching. I really didn't want to work.

"Are you going?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, I'll be back in the morning," I explained, bending down to kiss her lips.

"Love you," she whispered as I pulled away.

"I love you too. Bye, Emmett!" I called to him, walking to the door.

The night went by in a blur, since it was a Saturday night, most of the patients were drunks or people who had hurt while getting drunk. By the time I got home in the morning, I was so tired that I couldn't focus on unlocking the front door. There was no way I could do another shift at the hospital like that again, I didn't understand how the other doctors could do that everyday.

I stripped when I got to my bedroom, leaving myself in only my boxers. I laid in bed next to Bella, who was fast asleep and spread out all over the bed. I kissed her shoulder lightly and she moaned quietly, her eyes fluttering open slightly. I could watch her sleep all day, it was something I would never get bored with. She was beautiful.

"I'm sorry," I apologized as her chocolate-brown eyes opened. I felt bad for waking her.

"It's okay. How was your shift?" She asked, moving so that she was now wrapped in my arms.

"Hard," I laughed.

"Maybe I can help," Bella whispered, leaning over to rub her hands on my shoulders. I turned over on my stomach and moaned as she squeezed them, while Bella sat on my back and put her legs to either side of my hips. She began to massage my back and shoulders, making me moan again and again. Damn, she was good at this.

My eyes closed and eventually, I fell asleep. I was aware that I was snoring and that Bella was giggling at me as she moved off my back and laid next to me, I couldn't even answer when she was speaking to me, I was simply too tired. The fact that it was morning also made me even more sleepy.

"Sweet dreams, my Edward. I love you."


	18. Game

**Chapter Eighteen **

**Bella P.O.V**

"Emmett, what do you want to do?" I asked, feeling kind of awkward. Edward had to do a night shift, so I was staying with Emmett alone for the first time. I don't know why I was so nervous though, I had been alone with Emmett many times, just not over night. He shrugged at me and held up 'Wii Party'.

"Sure," I agreed, taking one of the remotes.

A few hours later, Emmett and I were arguing about who was greatest champion of the Wii. I won some of the games, though he had won most, I just didn't want to admit it. He was amazing at any video game, his PS3, Xbox, Wii and anything else, literally. It was beginning to get late and I knew that if Edward was here, Emmett would be in bed.

I didn't want to ask Emmett to go to bed, I wasn't his mom, or sister, or anything and I was sure that Edward wouldn't mind, so I let Emmett stay up with me, since it wasn't a school night. He sat next to me on the couch in the den, while we watched a movie, but I wasn't really paying attention. I was thinking about my apartment, I hadn't been there in so long, I had to go home for a while soon.

The last time I stayed, was just over a week ago, when I was ill. I only had the stomach flu, but I didn't want to pass it on to Emmett and Edward, so I took a few days off work and laid in my bed most of the time, it was boring and painful, but I was better now. I turned to look where Emmett was sitting on the couch and sighed when I noticed he was asleep.

How was I going to get him upstairs?

I couldn't carry him, for Emmett being only fourteen, he was a big kid. No wonder he played football for the school at such a young age, it was probably because of how big and strong he was. I stood up and shook Emmett lightly, feeling horrible when he woke up because of me, looking exhausted.

I helped him upstairs and into his bed, since he looked that tired and I worried that he would fall or something. I thought that was ironic since I would be the one more likely to fall out of the both of us. Emmett put his pajamas on and I sat on the edge of the bed to help him with his covers. I knew it was a childish thing to do, but he didn't look like he cared.

"Goodnight, Emmett." I told him.

"Night, Bella. Love you," he mumbled, already half asleep. I paused and looked down, his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow, I could tell that he was already asleep. I watched him, wondering how he could make me so happy just by saying 'love you'. I didn't even know if he meant it, but I knew I loved him back, like a brother. I cared for him so much, just like Edward.

"Love you," I whispered back, walking out of his room.

* * *

"How was last night?" Edward asked me as he woke up. It was past mid-day and he had just gotten out of his bed. I couldn't even remember him coming how last night, I was far too tired to even care. Though, I was up bright and early this morning, leaving Edward in bed so that he could have a long lie and catch up on his sleep.

"It was good," I grinned.

"What did you both do?"

"Played 'Wii' most of the night, Emmett won. He also told me that he loves me."

"Really?" Edward didn't seem shocked. "I already kind of knew that."

"And you didn't tell me?" I fake gasped.

"Nope, but I also knew that you love him back."

"Why must you be right all the time?" I huffed, leaning in to kiss him. I stopped as Emmett walked into the kitchen, looking disgusted as he noticed us kissing. I grinned, looking at his outfit; he was dressed in his football gear, with the colors of green for the high school team. He had a big game so Edward and I would be going to watch him.

"Are we all ready to go?" Edward asked.

"Yeah," I answered, walking out to the car. It wasn't a long drive to the school, which was busy with pupils and their parents crowding into the field that the game was being held in. Emmett went to go into the changing rooms, where he met his friends and coach. I saw some of the teachers gathered in a group, staring at me. I realized I was holding Edward's hand and they would have seen me with Emmett.

"Miss Swan!" One of them called, gesturing me to come over.

"Do you know them?" Edward asked.

"Yeah," I nodded, dragging him over to them so we didn't look rude.

"Mrs Henderson, nice to see you." I said as she gave me a smug look, glancing between Edward and I. This was a lie, Mrs Henderson was the head of English, she nagged on me almost everyday and checked on my pupils regularly. I didn't like her, it was like she was checking on them to see if I was doing a good job teaching them and she was nosy, meaning she would know who Edward was.

"Bella," she nodded, looking at Edward. "You're Emmett Cullen's brother, aren't you?" She asked.

"I am," Edward answered, holding out his hand to her. She put her's in his and shook it, taking an overall look of his body and grinning, making me want to chew out her eyes. How dare she check out my Edward? He was far too young for her, plus she was married to the man standing right next to her! Edward didn't notice that she was literally eye fucking him, which made me even more angry.

"I didn't know that you were both together," Mrs Henderson frowned, which Edward didn't see.

"Well, we are." I huffed. Edward turned to me and widened his eyes, while Mrs Henderson gasped and turned away to talk to her husband again, making me scowl at her. She knew that I knew what she was doing and she didn't even care. Edward dragged me away to a popcorn stand and bought us some butter popcorn, leading me to the crowded bleachers.

"What was that about?" He asked me when we sat down.

"I was jealous," I admitted, eating a piece of popcorn.

"Why?"

"Did you not notice how she was looking at you?"

"No," Edward shook his head, raising his eyebrow and glancing over to where Mrs Henderson was standing, while he chewed a handful of popcorn that he had stuffed in his mouth.

"Well, she was eye fucking you," I growled, making him laugh and choke on his popcorn.

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"I'm not," I defended. "She was."

"She's older, I'm sure she wasn't."

"You don't know her and you don't realize just how good you look. In the few months that we've been together, I've lost count on the amount of girls that have checked you out in front of me. It's unfair," I frowned, looking down. Edward was embarrassed at my words as his cheeks flushed bright red and his eyes looked panicked.

"You're the same," he whispered in my ear.

"How?" I asked, looking at him as I noticed the butter from the popcorn on his lips, which distracted me. All I could think about was the many ways I could get it off his lips, which was something I shouldn't have imagined when I was crowded by people at a local high school football game.

"The man to your left, won't stop staring at your chest. You don't realize how angry that makes me feel, but I think that it's not his fault you're so beautiful and that the blouse you're wearing makes your breasts noticeable to any man here, not that I'm complaining or judging. I've looked at you the same way for the past hour."

"Shut up," I said as he stopped whispering in my ear. Though, when I turned around and looked at the older dad to my left, I saw that he was staring at my chest. I gawked and he looked up, seeming ashamed as he glanced back at his wife and children, then smiled at me apologetically. Why did Edward have to be right about everything? And I had to change this blouse.

"See?" Edward said as I turned back to him, looking smug as he ate more popcorn.

"Damn you," I whispered, taking a handful and eating it. He leaned down to kiss my lips and I was glad, it meant that I could finally lick the butter off his lips and taste it for myself. Edward mixed with butter was the best tasting thing in the world and he knew what I was doing, because he was doing the same to me as well.

We pulled away as the crowd busted into cheers, watching the teams emerge onto the field. Edward and I wooed as we saw Emmett walking out with his friend, Seth. They were both clapping along to the cheesy music they had playing. I was sure it was the 'Eye of The Tiger', which made me laugh. After a couple of hours of watching the game and cheering along Emmett's team, it was finally over and they had won.

We met Emmett in the school parking lot, who was still dressed in his football jersey and grinning at us.

"Could I go to the after party?" He asked Edward. "We're gonna get some pizza."

"Sure," Edward agreed. "Keep your cell on me and phone when you want picked up."

"I will, thanks."

"Well done, Emmett!" I called as we got into the car. As we drove out of the school, I noticed Rosalie Hale run over to Emmett and hug him, which made me smile. They were so cute.

"Hey, could you drop me off at my place?" I asked Edward.

"Why?"

"I think I'm going to stay there tonight."

"Why?" Edward repeated, looking worried.

"I have to plan Alice's bachelorette party and mark some tests from school."

"Okay," Edward agreed, sadly, before he realized what I had just said. "Shit, I still have to plan Jasper's too!"

"Plan it tonight?" I suggested.

"Yeah."

Edward pulled over in front of my apartment and straight away, leaned in to kiss me. It started out sweet, but as time went on, I was basically laying on his lap and making out with him. His tongue teased its way into my mouth and I moaned as it traced mine. We were always like this when we had to stay goodbye, even if it was for just one night.

"Goodbye," I said as we finally pulled away from each other.

"I love you."

"I love you too," I answered, getting out of his car. "Call me later, okay?" I asked, which he nodded back to. With that, I began to walk back into my apartment and watched as he drove away, wishing I was still with him.


	19. Bachelor

**Chapter Nineteen **

**Edward P.O.V **

I screamed in pain as other shot hit me, this time in the ass. I stood up from my hiding place and turned around to find Emmett, still pointing his gun at me, while he laughed his head off. I scowled and walked forward, going to take his gun off him, until he shot me in the chest. The red paint spread onto my suit, making me sigh.

"You know, I could just ground you." I told him.

"C'mon, Edward! It's just a game," Emmett grinned and to get him back, I pointed my gun at him and shot his chest. The yellow paint went onto his suit this time and he groaned loudly. "Hey!" Okay, so maybe paintball was a good idea for Jasper's bachelor party? I had thought for the past twenty minutes that doing this was horrible, but getting to shoot Emmett was good.

"Why don't we team up?" I asked him.

"Yes!" He agreed. "You take Jasper, I'll get Ben."

We emerged from out hiding spot, which was an old pieces of wood, gathered into a wall for defense. I peaked my head out to see Jasper and Ben at the base, shooting at each other members of our party and each other. I turned back to Emmett, who was looking at me for guidance. I didn't know whether we should go out in the open to shoot them, or find somewhere to block ourselves. But as I looked around, I realized we were already at the only place we could do that and it was too far away for our shots to even hit them.

"We'll go out in the open, take them back surprise." I told Emmett, nodding as we ran out. We crept our way closer first, watching as Jasper shot his own father in the leg, which made me laugh a little. Peter - who was a good friend of Jasper's and mine in high school - was also in the mix of the crowd - shooting at Ben and Jasper.

"Let's go," Emmett whispered.

"Argh!" I screamed as we ran into the crowd. I got some good shots at Jasper, most were either in his chest or legs, which he was mad about. Though, as people realized what was happening, they began to shoot Emmett and I back. Peter and Jasper's dad were attacking me and as a paintball hit my leg and one of my balls, I fell to the ground in pain.

I didn't even care about where else they were shooting me, but damn a bullet to my ball was the worse pain I had even felt. I cupped my private area, since we were all boys here; who hadn't been hit in the balls in their life? And fell to the ground, leaning my head down as tears gathered in my eyes. I didn't want to admit that they were there, so I quickly got rid of them before looking up to the guys.

"What are you doing?" I asked Emmett as they were all laughing at me, he had his phone out and was pointing it at me.

"Oh, I was just sending Bella a photo of you like that."

"What?" I shrieked, standing up and forgetting about the pain in my groin to focus on the embarrassment of what had just happened, to grab his phone out of his hands. "Dude, not cool." I sighed as I looked at his message. His phone vibrated and Bella text back to his photo, making me smile at her reply. Damn, she cared about me to not bully me for that embarrassment.

_Hahaha. Stop hurting my Edward. See you later_, she said. While we were here, Bella and the girls were at a day spa, then later would be going to a club and we would be attending a bar. I didn't organize a stripper or anything, just some drinks on tab, since I knew that was all that Jasper wanted. Besides, Alice would have me killed if she found out I got a stripper.

After another hour or so of playing paintball, we went back to the base, where we could get changed and leave to go to the bar. I dressed back into my black shirt and jeans, while I waited for the others to be ready. There was already food waiting for us at the bar, which I was glad for, since I was starving after all the running around.

"Excuse me," I called, glancing at everyone in our party. I gulped as they all turned to stare at me and Emmett was laughing a little, he knew how nervous I got at public speaking. This was only Jasper's bachelor party, if I was nervous at this, what was I going to be like in a week's time, at his wedding? "I would just like to congratulate Jasper on his big win. I've known him since we were kids and I can't think of anyone more deserving."

I kept my speech short and sweet, I did have something longer planned but I couldn't do it from the amount of people looking at me. Jasper thanked me and I listened as other stood up to give a speech. Ben, Peter, Jasper's dad and even Emmett also went up, the shortest was probably Emmett's and the longest was Jasper's father, who looked upset about his son finally finding someone.

When it was getting late and everyone was starting to drink more, I went outside with Emmett and called a cab. He would be going home himself, though I did hire a babysitter for him, she was a local girl, older than Emmett, who needed the money for college and she only lived a couple of blocks away from us so, I trusted her and Emmett to be alone together.

"I'll see you later, dude." I promised as he got in the cab.

"Don't get too drunk," he warned. Emmett had a weird thing about us getting drunk, he was even concerned about Bella tonight. I wasn't sure if it was because of our parents being killed because of a drunk driver, or that he, in general, hated alcohol, but it was just something he didn't like to see people do.

"I won't," I swore, handing him money to pay for the cab and get pizza later if he was hungry. I went back into the bar after he drove away, finding Peter, Ben and Jasper so that I could talk to them all. I pulled them away from dancing and sat them at a table, since I really had to speak to them privately.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked.

"I was thinking about asking Bella something..." I trailed off.

"To get married?!" Jasper shrieked.

"Shh, no!" I silenced him. "I've barely known her for five months, I was going to ask her to move in. Do you think it's too soon?"

"No, Alice and I were living together after two."

"Really?" Peter asked. "I've got to meet Bella, what is so special about this girl? You and Emmett are lost without her."

"I don't think it's too soon," Ben answered. "Angela and I didn't move in together for a while but that's because she wanted to finish college first."

"So, you think I should do it?" I asked.

"Yeah, have you spoken to Emmett about this?" Jasper asked.

"I did yesterday, he was actually the one to suggest it. I mean, I've always wanted her to move in but I thought it was too soon," I explained.

"Go for it!" Peter encouraged me. "It sounds like you are both great together."

"Thanks guys."

Now, that I knew I was definitely going to ask Bella to move in with me, all I had to figure out was when to ask.


	20. Bachelorette

**Chapter Twenty **

**Bella P.O.V **

"Hmm, that's amazing." I moaned. Tom's hands roamed over my back, relaxing all the muscles in my shoulders and making me feel better, he was amazing at his job. I had to admit, the thought of any other guy - other than Edward - touching me like this, made me uncomfortable, but when I found out my masseur was gay, it made things a lot better.

"You're very tense," Tom laughed.

"Probably from Edward," Alice muttered from across the room. I looked up to see her masseur's eyes roam around her naked back, which made me almost groan as I realized that unlike Tom, he wasn't gay. Alice and I were the only girls in the room being massaged by a man, while the other girls that had attended Alice's bachelorette party, were all being massaged by women.

"Shut up," I teased at her earlier remark and went back to enjoying Tom's massage. I jumped as my phone rang, telling me I had a text and opened my eyes so that I could see where my phone was. I laughed as I read the text from Emmett; it was a photo of Edward at paint balling, his groin was covered in red paint and I guessed that he had been shot in the balls.

"What are you laughing at?" Angela asked, peaking over my shoulder to see the message. I quickly replied and showed the other girls, who burst into laughter at the image of Edward. I was confused when Alice stood up and grabbed my phone, turned it off and kept it with her as she went back to her masseur's bed. Angela looked at me and smirked, before laying back down and closing her eyes.

"What did I do wrong?" I asked.

"Did you not get my message? It's a girls night, no boys." Alice huffed.

"Girls, time for facials!" Tom called, handing me a robe to cover myself. I laughed at how wrong his words sounded and he smirked at me, realizing what I was laughing at. We were led into another room, where we received face masks, pedicures and had our make-up done. I handed out the various dresses that I had bought the girls and when I gave Alice her baby pink one, she looked confused.

"We're going to a club," I explained, changing into my black dress.

"Woo! I've not been to one since college," Alice complained.

"I did good?" I asked, wondering if she really did like what I had planned for today. I had been stressed thinking of where we could go, since I knew that Alice would probably want something to do with shopping, hair and make-up, then a huge party that she could get drunk at later on. Her wedding was only in a week, she deserved this free time.

"You did great," she insisted, pulling me in for a hug. "Plus, I love the dress!"

"I dragged Edward shopping with me," I replied.

We left the spa and were driven to a high-class club in the town of Seattle. I was glad that I had phoned up to book a V.I.P area for us, since they line to get in the club was huge. We were led upstairs to a platform, where we had a good view of the dance floor and drinks already laid out for us. Alice started drinking shots straight away and I joined in, getting drunk quite early.

"Bella, come dance with me!" Alice shouted over the music, and I must have been really drunk, since I agreed. We danced for what seemed like hours, until I couldn't feel my feet in my high-heels anymore. We held hands as we shuffled our way through the crowds of dancing people, until we reached the bar. The bar tender grinned at me and asked what drink I wanted, so I assumed he was being friendly.

"Two vodkas and soda, please?" I asked.

"Sure thing, beautiful," he replied, making me blush. It was slightly awkward though, since I knew he was flirting with me when I already had a boyfriend. Though, he was cute; his fair blonde hair fitted his bright blue eyes, except they weren't right for me. I couldn't stop thinking about Edward's apple green eyes and bronze messy hair.

"How much do I owe you?" I asked, when the bar tender gave me the drinks.

"Nothing, for you." He winked.

"Uh, thanks," I stuttered, dragging Alice away since I didn't know what to reply. Alice giggled as I pulled her back to our V.I.P section with me, after tripping multiple times on the way up the stairs. Being drunk did really not help my balance. I frowned as I noticed what the bar tender had written on my napkin; it was his name and number.

"Oh, someone has a crush," Alice teased, while she drank her vodka.

"I have a boyfriend."

As the time rolled around to after midnight and the club began to close, we decided it was time to go home. I helped most of the girls who were too drunk to walk in to taxis and sent Alice off with Angela, before I began to walk along the street and hold my hand out for a taxi. I rolled my eyes when the fifth taxi ignored me and continued to drive.

"Hey, there." I heard someone greet from behind me. I turned around and was shocked to see the bar tender from the club grinning at me, making me worry. Sure, he was maybe just being nice, but it was weird that he was following me. I didn't know what to reply and after I didn't speak, he decided to continue. "Did you get my note on the napkin?" He asked, walking towards me.

"No, I didn't." I lied.

"Well, my name's Dylan. I left you my number."

"Oh," I looked down, panicking as I didn't know what to say. Why didn't I go with Alice and Angela? "I have a boyfriend."

"Are you happy with him?"

"Huh?" I asked in return. What a strange question, I wondered why he didn't just leave me alone and say goodbye, but he instead walked closer to me and I took a step backwards. "Yes," I answered his question, my voice shaking.

"I could make you happier," Dylan smirked and he was now so close, that his breath hit off my face and his hands rested on my hips. I looked around in panic, there was no one in sight, most people were in cars or at the other side of the road. There was no one that could help me and no one that I could shout on.

"Please, leave me alone."

"Is there a problem here?" I heard a deep voice ask from behind us, it was one that I recognized. Dylan stepped back from me and turned around, giving me a view of who was speaking to us. I gasped as Edward walked forward into the street light and glared at Dylan, making me wonder how long he had listened to him.

"No, no problem." Dylan gulped, looking scared at Edward's expression.

"Leave then," Edward ordered. I had to admit, seeing him this angry and protective, kind of worked to his advantage. He looked hot and as Dylan walked away with one last look at me, Edward gave me a sad look. "Are you okay?" He asked me. I nodded and walked towards him, waiting until Dylan was out of our sight before I leaned up to kiss him.

"What are you doing here?" I asked once I was done.

"I came to find you, Alice called to ask if you were home yet and I got worried. Emmett and I drove here to look for you."

"Emmett's here?"

"Yeah, he's in the car around the corner. Here," Edward whispered, placing his coat over my shoulders.

"Thanks."

As we walked back to the car, I felt safer than ever. Although, the scary events of tonight and what could have possibly happened should have worried me, I knew that I was okay as long as Edward was with me. He was like my protector, someone I would always be able to count on. It was one of the many reasons I loved him.


	21. Wedding

**Chapter Twenty-One **

**Bella P.O.V**

"Bella, wake up," I heard someone whisper in my ear, while they shook me. Straight away, I realized it wasn't Edward, who usually woke me in the morning. Their hands were too rough as they shook me and their voice was too deep, meaning it could only be one more person in my life - Charlie, my dad. I opened my eyes as I took in my surroundings and finally registered where I was.

Alice's house. Today was Alice's wedding. I shot out of bed, making my dad jump as I wrapped my arms around his neck. This was the first time I had seen him in months, the last time I visited him in Forks was last Christmas, it had been almost a year since I had last saw him. He awkwardly embraced me back, before I blushed and realized what I had just done.

My dad and I had never been close in a physical way, since we were both too awkward and shy to say the occasional 'I love you' or hug that much, though I did love him and before Emmett and Edward came into my life, he was the main man in mine. I had missed him so much though, that I didn't even care if we were both being awkward with each other.

"When did you arrive in Seattle?" I finally asked once I had released him. I sat back on my bed and glanced at his bright red face, flushed from the embarrassment of our hug. I looked around at the other beds in the room and was shocked to see that Angela and Alice were no where in sight, had they gotten up without me? "Where's Alice and Angela?" I asked before I could give my dad a chance to answer my other question.

"I arrived early this morning and they are both downstairs. They mentioned something about letting you sleep longer, you had a rough night? I don't know but I came up here to wake you for breakfast, before everyone else eats it," Charlie explained, laughing lightly. I blushed as I realized what Alice and Angela were talking about with the 'rough night' comment.

We had spent most of the night laughing and crying over how much good friends we had all been, since I had known them from when we were toddlers and now Alice was getting married. It felt like the past ten years had passed in a blur, I could still remember when we started high school just like it was yesterday. I had gone through life with both and it made me happy that Alice and Angela were also happy.

Another reason I had a rough time last night was because I couldn't get to sleep without Edward in bed with me. I had stayed with him so much that I couldn't sleep at night now without his arms around me and his gentle kisses. Even though it had only been two nights without him, I still missed him. But he had to stay with Jasper since he was his best man and I had to be with Alice since I was her maid of honor.

"Why don't we go down for some breakfast?" I suggested.

"Good, I'm starving." Charlie moaned, making me laugh. I stayed behind in the room, while my dad went downstairs. I searched around the room for my phone and was relieved when I found it. I was happy to find out that I had three messages from Edward, one from last night and two from this morning, meaning that he missed me just as much as I missed him.

_Bella, I can't wait to see you tomorrow. I miss you and I love you, sweet dreams. _

_Good morning, love. Are you awake yet? I miss you. _

_I will see you soon, not long now. I love you. _

I smiled and how adorable his texts were and replied with one along the same lines, before finally going downstairs to eat some breakfast. Everyone was gathered in the kitchen, eating breakfast and talking. Angela and Alice, along with her cousins were speaking, while her parents and my dad were talking on the other side of the room. They had all arrived together this morning.

They all turned to look at me and I was suddenly embarrassed by the shorts and t-shirt I had worn to bed last night, especially since the t-shirt was Edward's and I knew my dad had realized that. Alice raised an eyebrow as she noticed my phone was in my hand and smirked when she saw the blush that spread across my cheeks.

"Edward?" She simply asked, before going back to buttering her bagel. I nodded just as my phone began to ring, making me blush even more as I saw that it was Edward calling me. Everyone burst into laughter as I excused myself and walked back into the living room so that I could talk to him more privately without my dad listening in to every word I said.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, so you are awake now," he teased me.

"Yes, I didn't get much sleep last night," I admitted and I could already imagine Edward's frown as he answered me.

"Why?" He sounded worried.

"Because you weren't with me," I whispered, my voice breaking sadly on the last note.

"Well, I'll see you in a couple of hours," Edward reminded me, making me sigh. A few hours still felt like too long.

"Yes, I better go and get some breakfast. I'll see you at the hotel?"

"Of course, I love you."

"I love you too," I replied, before closing my phone over. I turned back around to go into the kitchen and jumped in shock when I noticed my dad standing right behind me, making me blush as I realized he had listened into my conversation. Why was he spying on me? And he didn't even look apologetic, he had a smirk on his face, while his graying mustache made him look even more suspicious.

"What?" I asked stubbornly.

"When will I get to meet Edward?" He asked.

"Today," I promised. "Him and Emmett will be at the wedding," I added, making Charlie grin.

"Great, I can't wait to tell him about my guns," he teased, rubbing his hands together, evilly.

"Shut up," I warned, slapping my hand off his chest, jokingly.

"You know I won't. Now, go and get some breakfast," he ordered.

I listened to him and went back into the kitchen, joining the girls as they ate some bagels and cereal. I decided to go lightly and have some toast, even though I was pretty hungry, so that I could have a big meal at Alice's wedding tonight. I was looking forward to it, her wedding and reception was being held at one of the best hotels in Seattle, which was huge and could hold many guests.

"Angela and Bella, let's go and get ready!" Alice ordered, pulling at our hands until we agreed to follow her upstairs and get showered. I washed myself with some of Alice's strawberry and vanilla soup, which smelled amazing and then started doing my hair, while Alice and Angela got showered. I decided to leave my hair down, though curl it so that it wasn't too plain.

Angela tied her hair up into a tight bun, before we both helped Alice curl her short hair and frame it around her face, so that it was sitting just in the right place, before covering it in enough hairspray to last all day. We each did our own make-up and while Angela and I kept our make-up very simple, Alice did her make-up very outgoing, though at the same time, elegant.

After we were each done with our hair and make-up, it was time for us to put on our dresses. Angela and I put on our ones first, so that we could help Alice get into her one once we were done. Angela and I had the same dress, which was a red color, though close to pink. It was strapless and loose, though clung to our bodies in all the right places, with jewels under our chest area. I loved it.

I gasped as I clasped the last button of Alice's dress and tried to hold in my tears as I saw how beautiful she looked. It was elegant yet romantic and glamorous, as it made her look like a princess. The top half was like a tight corset, with many jewels places along the stitching and the bottom half spread out a lot and was a pale white, giving it the most resemblance to a princess. Words could not describe how amazing she looked.

"Alice..." I whispered, trailing off as I didn't know what to say.

"You look amazing," Angela finished off for me.

"Thank you," Alice grinned, complementing us on our dresses, though we looked plain in comparison to her.

Alice's parents and my dad entered the room and gushed over her dress and while she shared a moment with her parents, Angela and I spoke to my dad, whole looked shocked to see Alice so grown up. Alice and Charlie had always been close, he thought of her and Angela as second children to him, so it was a surprise to him just like it was for me.

"Are you girls ready?" Alice's dad asked. "The cars are outside."

"I'm ready," Alice whispered, pulling us outside with her.


End file.
